Marine Tortoises.- 



-REPTILES.- 



-The Hawk's-bill. 



77 



which are so constructed as to be filled at every flood 

 tide. Here they are kept till taken to market or sold. 

 In the South Seas, skilful and practised divers take 

 advantage of the moment when they find tliese turtles 

 asleep on the surface of the ocean ; they dexterously 

 swim right under them, so that on coming up they 

 may seize hold of them and retain them there till both 

 are hauled on board the boat. Mr. Darwin mentions 

 the same process at tlie Keeling Islands, and thus 

 describes the capture of these animals : — " The water 

 was so clear and shallow, that although at first a turtle 

 quickly dives out of sight, yet in a cauoe or boat under 

 sail, the pursuers, after no very long chase, come up 

 to it. A man standing ready in the bow at this 

 moment daslics through the water upon the turtle's 

 back; then clinging with both hands by the shell of 

 its neck, he is carried aw'ay tiU, the animal becomes 

 exhausted and is secured. It was quite an interest- 

 ing chase to see the two boats thus doubling about, 

 and the men dashing head foremost into the water 

 trying to seize their prey." These animals are also 

 taken by means of harpoons. In the open sea, when 

 they come to the surface to breathe or to sleep, they 

 offer a fair mark to the fisherman. The point of this 

 instrument is sharp and arrow-shaped, and to the 

 extremity is attached a ring to which a long cord is 

 fastened. The animal when wounded dives and carries 

 with it the harpoon and cord, but is soon hauled up 

 and dragged alongside the boat. At the Bahama 

 islands the natives are, according to Catesby, very 

 dexterous in taking these animals by means of an 

 instrument called a 2"'0 ! !>rid Ilolbrook tells us that 

 the very same instrument is used in the Tortuga 

 islands at the present day. He quotes Audubon, who 

 says that he saw a man who with his peg had been 

 known to secure eight hundred gi'own turtles in one 

 year ! But the most singular method used for catch- 

 ing turtle is one practised in the Indian and China 

 seas, and on the coast of Mozambique. This consists 

 in the use of the sucking-fish [Echeneis remora), which, 

 as Dumeril and Bibron say, are " taught this manoeuvre, 

 like our hunting dogs, and are called in consequence, 

 Imntin/j-fish.^'' The f^ict was known to Columbus, was 

 verified by Ccmmerson many years afterwards, and 

 has since mfne recently been confirmed by Mr. Salt. 

 Tlie sucking-fish is thus employed : The fishermen 

 have in their boats buckets which contain several of 

 these animals, with a ring through their tails, to which 

 a long slender cord is attached. As soon as they 

 perceive at a distance, several turtles asleep on the 

 surface, but which they know a slight noise might 

 awaken, they throw one of the sucking-fishes overboard, 

 giving it a long play of rope. As soon as the fish sees 

 the turtle floating, it approaches it, darts upon it, and 

 fastens itself by its sucker to the under surface of its 

 carapace. To this it adheres with such fcjrce, that in 

 withdrawing the rope, both fish and turtle are hauled 

 in together. Mr. Salt, when in the Mozambique, had 

 a specimen of a sucking-fish given to him as a present. 

 " All the Portuguese gentlemen whom I conversed 

 with," he says, " on this subject, agree in assuring me 

 that fish of this kind were employed on the coast in 

 catching turtle." 



THE CARET (C'helonia virgata) forms our illustra- 

 tion of this family— see Plate 6, fig. 3. This turtle 

 has a great range of habitat, as it is a native of the 

 coasts of South America, the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 the Indian Ocean. It has also been found off Tene- 

 ritTe, at New York, and in the Red Sea. The shell of 

 the Carey is about two feet nine inches in length, and 

 the carapace is proportionally shorter than that of any 

 other species of the family. It is truncated, as it 

 were, in front, forms an obtuse angle behind, and is 

 very much aiched on the sides. The colour of the 

 carapace, head, and fins, is a deep chestnut, rayed 

 with brown mixed with yellow ; and the breastplate is 

 gamboge or greenish-yellow. 



THE GREEN TURTLE {Chdonia virulls) is the spe- 

 cies which excels all the others in the delicacy and 

 excellent flavour of its flesh. It is tlte Turtle par 

 excellence, so well known in tliis country to all "bons 

 vivants." What would the Lord JIayor's dinners at 

 the Mansion-house of London be without the Turtle ! 



The Green Turtle surpasses all the other species 

 (except the Coriaceous Turtle) in size and weight. 

 The ordinary length of adult specimens may be about 

 four feet ; but individuals not unfrequently occur which 

 measure six or seven feet in length, and weigh upwards 

 of eight hundred pounds. Le Maine, in his " Voyage 

 to the Canary Islands," informs us, that near Cape 

 Blanco turtles are found of the enormous size of fifteen 

 feet in circumference, and that the flesh of one of them 

 would be a sufficient meal for thirty men ! 



The carapace is oval, somewhat heart-shaped, and 

 slightly convex.. The head is rounded, and, compara- 

 tively speaking, rather smaller than in most other 

 marine tortoises. The lower jaw is strongly toothed 

 and hooked in front, and the upper jaw is notched in 

 front and serrated on the sides. 



The Green Turtle is very common upon low, sandy 

 coasts iu both continents, but principally within the 

 torrid zone. Its chief food consists of marine plants, 

 and more especially the Zostera marina, which in 

 consequence is known by the name of " Turtle-grass." 

 According to Mr. Audubon, it cuts this near the 

 roots, in order to procure the most tender and succu- 

 lent parts, which alone are eaten, while the rest of the 

 plant floats to the surface and collects there in large 

 fields. This, when seen, is a sure indication that the 

 feeding ground of the Green Turtle is near. 



THE HAWK'S-BIIL TURTLE or Caret {Carctta 

 imhricala). — If the Green Turtle excels all othei's as 

 an article of food, the Ilawk's-bill Turtle is the most 

 valuable as producing a substance of great importance 

 in the arts and manufactures. It is smaller than the 

 Green Turtle, for it is rare to find one from three Imn 

 dred to four hundred pounds weight. The shell is 

 depressed, oval, or somewhat heart-shaped, and covered 

 with plates, which are laid one ahove the other like 

 the tiles of a house — hence its specific name tmhrkaia, 

 or imbricated. The breastplate is large, full and 

 entire in front and behind, hut hollow and depressed 

 in the centre. The head is oval, elongate, and com- 

 pressed at the sides. The ujiper jaw is greatly pro- 

 longed, and hooked in front like the beak of a hawk, 

 from which circumstance the common English name 



