Marine Tortoises.- 



-EEPTILES.- 



-Marine Tortoises. 



75 



from the species of all the other families, both land 

 and fresh water. The feet, though the toes are all 

 formed of distinct pieces, expanded at the end and 

 often armed with sharp claws, are changed into flat, 

 depressed fins, which are not fitted for any movement 

 but that of swimming, an act wliich these animals per- 

 form with great vigour and celerity. Tlie fore legs 

 are very much longer and larger than the hinder ones, 

 and this forms a very characteristic feature of the 

 species. They are not retractile within the shell. 

 The whole structure of the Marine tortoises shows 

 an exact correspondence with their manner of living, 

 which is essential!}' aquatic. Their carapace, as well as 

 their legs, is exceedingly flattened, a form well adapted 

 to admit of rapid movement through the water. It is 

 almost always heart-shaped, and has a defined bony 

 margin. The Land and Fresh-water tortoises have no 

 voice except a sort of hissing noise when irritated or 

 suddenly laid hold of; the marine species, on the con- 

 trary, some of them more especially, as the one well 

 known by tlie name of Luth (Sphargis), have a 

 remarkable cry, and when cauglit in the net or severely 

 wounded, utter a. loud roaring sound, from wliich, 

 indeed, the generic name {Sj^hargis) is taken — a name 

 derived from the Greek word sjiliarr/izo {epaiyiZiii), 

 which means " to utter a sound with a distended 

 throat." 



The principal food of the Marine tortoises consists 

 of marine vegetables, which the structure of the jaws 

 just described enaliles them to cut and masticate with 

 facility. Some few, however, especially such as the 

 Hawksbill and Loggerhead, which exhale an odour of 

 musk, feed also upon certain Crustacea and mollusea, 

 more particularly cuttle-fishes. They scarcely ever 

 appear to leave the water, except at the time of laying 

 eggs. Some of the species, however, it is said, come 

 out at night:, and creep up on the shores of deserted 

 islets, where they clamber up the rocks to browse 

 upon the marine plants which form their food. In 

 calm latitudes, even seven or eight hundred leagues 

 from any land, these animals are often met with Ij'ing 

 stretched out on the surface of the sea, and in a state 

 of absolute immobility, as if they were dead. It is 

 believed that they assume that position in order to 

 give themselves up to sleep. They have, all of them, 

 the faculty of swimming under water for a length of 

 time, owing to the fact of their possessing very exten- 

 sive lungs. This family of Marine tortoises contains 

 some of the largest species of the order to which they 

 belong. As we shall see when we come to mention the 

 species in detail, some individuals of the Coriaceous 

 turtle or Luth have been found to weigh from fifteen 

 hundred to sixteen hundred pounds, and others of the 

 true turtles to weigh from eight hundred to nine hun- 

 dred pounds, with a shell fifteen feet in circumference, 

 and nearly seven feet long. They live long, and are 

 slow in growth. The males in general are smaller 

 than the females. The time during which the sexes 

 remain united together lasts a fortnight, or, according 

 to some obseiTers, nearly double that time ; and the 

 act of reproduction always takes place in the water. 

 When the time arrives for depositing her eggs, the 

 female has often to traverse spaces of sea more than 



fifty leagues in extent, the male accompanying her or 

 following after. By a peculiar kind of instinct, almost 

 all the females of the same latitudes, from all parts and 

 at nearly fixed periods, repair to the sandy shore of 

 some desert island for this purpose. 



The Marine tortoises or turtles are found in the seas 

 of all hot climates, but chiefly towards the tomd zone. 

 In the equinoctial ocean they abound on the shores of 

 the West Indian islands, as Cuba, Jamaica, the Cai- 

 mans or Alligator Islands, St. Domingo, and the Gulf 

 of Mexico ; in the Atlantic Ocean they are found in 

 equal abundance at the Cape Verde isles and Ascension ; 

 in the Indian Ocean they frequent the shores of the 

 Isle of France, Madagascar, the Seychelles, and Rodri- 

 guez ; in the Pacific Ocean they are found at the Sand- 

 wich Isles and the Galapagos. 



Amongst ail the species of the class Repiilia, the 

 Marine tortoises are those which are the most useful 

 and advantageous to man. In consequence of this, 

 in climates where they abound their cajiture becomes 

 an object of great importance ; some for their carapace 

 or shell, and others for their flesh as an article of food, 

 their fat, and their eggs. 



In those countries where turtles aboinid, and where 

 they attain a large size, the natives use the carapace 

 as canoes or boats to creep along the coast in. This 

 is mentioned by Pliny and Diodorus Siculus, who speak 

 of a tribe of Ethiopians on the shores of the Red Sea, 

 called from their living so much u]ion the flesh of these 

 Chelonians, " Chelonophagi," or Turtle-eaters. And 

 that this is not a mere invention of these ancient authors 

 seems to be proved, and the statement corroborated, by 

 a fact mentioned by Dami)ier : — " I heard," he says, 

 " of a monstrous Green Turtle once taken at Port- 

 Royal in the Bay of Campeachy, that was four feet 

 deep from the back to the belly, and the belly six feet 

 broad. Captain Rock's son of about nine or ten years 

 of age, went in it as in a boat, on board his father's 

 ship, about a quarter of a mile from the shore." These 

 shells are made use of also in some parts by the natives 

 as a covering for their huts, as troughs for the domestic 

 cattle to drink out of, and as baths for their children. 

 " In the Gulf of Manaar," says Sir J. Emerson Ten- 

 nent in his account of Ceylon, " turtle is frequently 

 found of such a size as to measure between four and 

 five feet in length ; and on one occasion, in riding 

 along the sea-shore north of Puttam, I saw a man in 

 charge of some sheep resting under the shade of a 

 turtle-shell, which he had erected on sticks to protect 

 him from the sun — almost verifying the statement of 

 iElian, that in the seas of Ceylon there are tortoises so 

 large that several persons may find ample shelter be- 

 neath a single shell." As a delicious article of food the 

 flesh of the Turtle is well known. At first it was made 

 use of by our navigators, who fotmd it a healthy, agree- 

 able, and nourishing food after their long sea-voyages, 

 and an excellent remedy against the ravages of scurvy. 

 It came afterwards, however, to be used at better tables, 

 and, as is well known, is now and long has been an 

 especial article of luxury in this comitry at the ban- 

 quets of the wealthy. In Jamaica and cisewliere/)™- 

 serves have been eslablished where turtle are kept, and 

 from whence they are distributed to other countries aa 



