REPTILIA—CROCODILE. 691 
But of all animals of the tortoise kind, the green turtle! is the most noted 
and the most valuable, from the delicacy of its flesh, and its nutritive quali- 
sles, together with the property of being easily digested. It is generally 
found about two hundred pounds in weight; though some are five hundred, 
and others not above fifty. Dampier mentions one so large that a boy of 
ten Years of age, the son of Captain Rock, went from the shore in the shell 
of it, as a boat, to his father’s ship. 
This animal seldom comes from the sea but to deposit its eggs. Its chief 
* food consists of the mangrove, the blackwood tree, and other marine plants. 
When the weather is fair, the turtles are sometimes seen feeding in great 
numbers, like flocks of sheep, several fathoms deep upon the verdant carpet 
below. They frequent the creeks and shallows, where they are usually 
taken, but they are extremely shy of boats and men, and swim remarka- 
bly fast. 
ORDER II.—SAURIA. 
Reptites of this order have the body elongated, covered with scales 
generally with four feet ; toes with claws, or at least, in part; tail more or 
less long; mouth armed with teeth. 
THE CROCODILE E.2 
Tuts animal grows toa great length, being sometimes found thirty feet 
long from the tip cf the snout to the end of the tail; its most usual length, 
however, is eighteen. One which was dissected by the Jesuits at Siam, was 
eighteen feet and a half, French measure, in length; of which the tail was 
no less than five feet and a half, and the head and neck above two feet and 
a half. It was four feet, nine inches in circumference, where thickest. The 
fore legs had the same parts and conformation as the arms of a man both 
within and without. The hands, if they may be so called, had five fingers ; 
the two last of which had no nails, and were of a conical figure. The 
hinder legs, including the thigh and paw, were two feet two inches long; 
the paws, from the joint to the extremity of the longest claws, were about 
nine inches; they were divided into four toes, of which three were armed 
with large claws, the longest of which was an inch anda half; these toes 
were united by a membrane, like those of a°duck, but much thicker. The 
head was long, and had a little rising at the top; but the rest was flat, and 

1 Chelonia mydas, Cuv. 
2The genus Crocodilus has the muzzle oblong and depressed; teeth unequal; legs 
dentated, and feet palmated, the fourth tooth in the lower jaw, on each side, lying along a 
groove in the upper. 
