HAWK'S-BILL TURTLE. 7 



as it is commonly called, as an article of luxurious and most 

 nutritious food; and all the species afford a large quantity of 

 oil, which is employed for various purposes. But it may 

 not be uninteresting to offer a few observations on the parti- 

 cular utility of the species which is now to be described. 



The HawkVbilled Turtle, Chelonia imbricata, is not 

 generally used in food, as its flesh is far from being either 

 so wholesome or agreeable as that of the Green Turtle ; 

 but the large scales with which it is covered are so rnueh 

 employed in the arts, both for purposes of ornament and 

 utility, as to constitute no unimportant object of mer- 

 chandize. It is the substance commonly called Tortoise- 

 shell. For the following short account of the mode of ob- 

 taining and preparing it, I am principally indebted to the 

 admirable History of Reptiles by my excellent friends M. 

 Dumeril and M. Bibron.* 



Although the greater number of the whole order of Tes- 

 tudinata have the back and sternum covered with horny 

 plates, or scales, it is almost exclusively those of the present 

 species which are applicable to the purposes just named. 

 The thirteen plates with which the whole upper part of the 

 shell is covered, are in fact much thicker and stronger, as 

 well as more beautifully clouded in colour, than those of any 

 other species ; and as they lie one over the other like the tiles 

 of a house, so that at least one-third of each overlaps the one 

 behind it, they are* much larger in comparison with the size 

 of the individual. The scales, or plates, are in the first 

 place separated by the application of heat. They are sold to 

 the manufacturers in the rough state, in which they are un- 

 even, fragile, opaque, and dirty ; and it is the first object of 

 the artificer to obviate these defects. The uneven surface, 

 the irregular curvature, the unequal thickness of different 

 parts, have all to be corrected ; and not only can these ob- 



* Hist, des Kept. II. p. 524, et seq. 



