78 



Marine Tortoises.- 



-REPTILES.- 



-Crocodiles. 



of the animal — the Hawk's-bill — is derived. The 

 edges of their jaws are entire and without teeth or 

 serrce. The Hawk's-hill Turtle is a native of the 

 Indian ocean and the American seas. It is taken at 

 Cej'lon, Amboyua, the coast of New Guinea, and 

 North Australia, the Seychelles, the coast of Cuba, 

 and other West Indian islands, the Red Sea, &c. ; 

 and individuals have even strayed as far north as the 

 coast of Great Britain. As we have said before, how- 

 ever, it is the substance known by the name of Tor- 

 toise-shell, which is the produce of this animal, that 

 makes the Hawk's-bill valuable. Other species have 

 the same kind of plates that cover the carapace ; but 

 in no other are these plates sufScicntly thick to be of 

 any value in the arts. Tortoise-shell is not considered 

 of the best quality unless the animal has reached to a 

 certain size, weighing about one hundred and sixty 

 pounds ; before that state it is too thin. The quantity 

 obtained from a single individual varies much. It is 

 stated by some authors that eight pounds may be 

 gained from a large turtle. Mr. Holbrook says that 

 fifteen pounds is the largest quantity that is ever 

 obtained, but that only from animals of the largest 

 size, M'Culloch, in his " Dictionary of Commerce," 

 says that the best tortoise-shell is that of the Indian 

 archipelago ; and that the finest of that quarter is 

 obtained from the Spice Islands and New Guinea. 



Of the second group of Marine tortoises, or those 

 which have the carapace and the external parts of 

 their body covered with a leatliery skin, only one 

 species is at present known. 



THE CORIACEOUS TITRTLE, or LuTH, as the French 

 authors call it (Sphnrgis coriacea), is undoubtedly the 

 largest of all the family, individuals having been occa- 

 sionally found weighing twelve hundred pounds, and 

 measuring eight feet in length. Though not a common 

 species, it seems to have a wide range, as specimens 

 have been taken in the Mediterranean ; in the Atlantic, 

 as in Chesapeake Bay on the coast of North America, 

 and the Tortugas or Turtle islands of Florida ; at the 

 Cape of Good Hope ; on the coast of Chili ; and in 

 Japan, where it is known by the name of Jalafa. 

 It has also been occasionally taken off tlie coasts of 

 France and England. Borlase, in his " History of 

 Cornwall," tells us that two individuals of a larce size 



were caught off that coast in the mackerel nets, in the 

 summer of 1756 ; and Pennant informs us of another 

 specimen having been caught on the coast of Dorset- 

 shire, and which is now in the British Museum. In 

 August, 1729, a specimen was captured off the mouth 

 of the Loire, about thirteen leagues from Nantes, which 

 wks upwards of seven feet long. 



The carapace of this species of turtle is somewhat 

 heart-shaped, narrow, and pointed behind, and is 

 marked on the back with seven longitudinal keels. 

 Tlie breast[)late is large, very full in front, and perfectly 

 flat, without any prominence or tubercle whatever. 

 The head is very large, and the jaws of great strength 

 and very sharp on their edges. The upper one has 

 three remarkable notches, one in the centre which is 

 angular, and one on each side at a short distance from 

 the former, which are rounded. The lower jaw is very 

 acute at the point, and somewhat hooked, correspond- 

 ing with the central notch of the upper. The neck is 

 very short, very thick, and covered with a coriaceous 

 skin. The fore legs are large and well developed — 

 twice the length of the hinder. Botli are covered with 

 a coriaceous skin. The tail is short, acute, and scarcely 

 extends beyond the carapace. The whole surface of 

 the animal is covered with a smooth, leathery skin, 

 quite destitute of horny plates or scales. It is of a 

 very dark-brown colour, with the exception of the 

 ridges or keels on the back, whicli are tinged in differ- 

 ent places with obscure dirty Avhite. Mr. Audubon 

 states that the Coriaceous Turtle, in resorting to the 

 Tortugas or Turtle islands of Florida for the purpose of 

 depositing its eggs, is later than the other species in 

 arriving there. The average luimber of eggs laid by 

 it, he says, maybe three hundred and fifty, in two sets. 

 It appears also to be less cautious than the Green 

 Turtle or Hawk's-bill in choosing the places for this 

 important operation. Its food consists of moUusca, 

 fish, Crustacea, sea-urchins, and various marine plants. 

 Pennant says that it becomes extremely fat, but that 

 the flesh is coarse and bad. The ancient Greeks, it is 

 said, were well acquainted with this species of marine 

 tortoise ; and it has been often confidently assorted, 

 though we think without sufficient proof, that it was 

 from the shell of the Coriaceous Turtle that the firtt 

 Ivre was fabricated. 



Order TT.^CROCODILES AND ALLIGATOES (EiiYnosAURiA). 



Op all the families of which the class of reptiles is 

 composed, that of the Crocodiles contains the bulkiest 

 and strongest species. In general appearance they 

 resemble gigantic lizards, but they differ from the 

 order Samia, or Saurian reptiles to which the lizards 

 belong, in having the body covered with square, keeled, 



* From the Greek words, emus [if^f;] tortoise, and sauros 

 ( Ku^ei) lizard. 



bony plates, imbedded in the skin, and placed in longi- 

 tudinal lines ; in the solidity and formation of their 

 skull ; and in the vent being longitudinal. In size 

 they vary from ten or twelve feet to fifteen or twenty, 

 and some even attain the length, it is said, of twenty-five 

 or thirty. Distinguished as they are by their great 

 magnitude, they have also the character of great fero - . 

 city. " Inhabiting the margins of the mighty streams 

 of tropical climates, they are the terror of all who 



