182 OUR REPTILES. 



delicately bevelled and fitted together. In 

 each case they are then put between metallic 

 plates ; to these a certain degree of pressure is 

 given, which, when the whole is plunged into 

 boiling water, is increased, and by this mode 

 they are so intimately joined together that the 

 slightest trace of their union cannot be detected. 



It is almost exclusively by means of boiling 

 water that the effects upon tortoise-shell are 

 obtained. The substance of the scales becomes 

 so softened by the action of the heat, that it 

 may be acted upon like a soft mass, or a flexible 

 and ductile paste, which, by pressure in metallic 

 moulds, will assume every variety of form re- 

 quired. The soldering of two pieces together 

 is effected by means of hot pincers, which, while 

 they compress, at the same time soften the 

 opposed edges of each piece, and amalgamate 

 them into one. No portion of the scales is 

 worthless; the raspings and powder produced 

 by the file, mixed with small fragments, are put 

 into moulds, and subjected to the action of boil- 

 ing water, and thus made into plates of the 

 desired thickness, or into various articles which 

 appear as if cut out of the solid block. 



The following is Dr. Turton's description of 

 the present species : 



" Body roundish-ovate, slightly heart-shaped, 

 slightly carinated down the back ; head small, 



