THE LOGGERHEAS TURTLE. Ip 



but particularly about the coasts of Italy and 

 Sicily. 



They are very strong and fierce, defending 

 themselves with great vigour with their legs, and 

 being able to divide very strong substances with 

 their mouth. Aldrovandus assures us that, on 

 offering a thick walking-stick to the gripe of one 

 that he saw publicly exhibited at Bologna, the 

 animal bit it in two in an instant*. — Their prin- 

 cipal food is shell-fish, which their strong beak 

 enables them to break from the rocks. But their 

 voracity, it is said, even leads them to attack young 

 Crocodiles, which they often mutilate of their limbs 

 or tail. We are informed that, for this purpose, 

 they frequently lurk in the bottom of creeks along 

 the shore, into which the Crocodiles sometimes retire 

 backwards, because the length of their body pre- 

 vents them from turning readily : and, taking advan- 

 tage of this posture, the Loggerhead seizes them 

 by the tail, having then nothing to fear from their 

 formidable teethf . 



They range very far over the ocean. One of 

 them was seen in latitude 30 north, sleeping on 

 the surface of the water, apparently about midway 

 between the Azores and the Bahama islands, and 

 these were the nearest possible land. This circum- 

 stance was the more remarkable as it happened in 

 *he month of April, just at their breeding timej. 



* Shaw's Gen. Zool. ill. 87. + La Cepede, i. i^z. 

 1 Catesby, ii. 40. 



C 2 



