LEATHERY TURTLE. 15 



ers assigned to the lyre ; for Amphion is said to have " built 

 the seven gates of Thebes in compliment to the seven strings 

 of his lyre. 1 ' This legend is neither overstrained, nor im- 

 probable ; for the margin of the shell would afford a very 

 good fastening for the strings, and the arched vault of the 

 back would answer the purpose of a good reverberating cavity. 



This species is found in the Mediterranean, in the Atlan- 

 tic, the Pacific, and the Indian Oceans. My own specimen, 

 above referred to, was from the latter locality. 



The history of its occurrence on the shores of Great 

 Britain is as follows : Borlase, in his History of Corn- 

 wall, mentions " two of a vast size which were caught in 

 the mackerel nets off -the coast of Cornwall, a little after 

 Midsummer 1756. The larger weighed eight hundred 

 pounds, the lesser nearly seven hundred." Pennant states 

 that " a third, of equal weight with the first, was caught on 

 the coast of Dorsetshire, and deposited in the Leverian 

 Museum." This specimen, if I mistake not, is the one now 

 in the British Museum. " The late Bishop of Carlisle in- 

 forms me," proceeds Pennant, " that a Tortoise was taken 

 off the coast of Scarborough in 1748 or 1749. It was pur- 

 chased by a family then resident there, and several persons 

 were invited to partake of it. A gentleman, who was one of 

 the guests, told them it was a Mediterranean Turtle, and not 

 wholesome ; only one of the company ate of it, who suffered 

 severely, being seized with dreadful vomiting and purging." 



The following are the dimensions of the parts in my pos- 

 session of the large specimen to which I have before referred, 

 the total length of which was eight feet. 



Ft. In. Lines. 



Length of the head . . . 11 4 



Greatest breadth of the head . . .096 



Breadth between the orbits . . 034 



Length of the fore-paddles . . 2 10 



Greatest breadth of the fore- paddles . 096 



