124 TESTACEOUS FISHES. 



This, indeed, is both a wholesome and an exquisitely delicious 

 food, and also a valuable article of commerce ; for our ships are 

 now generally furnished with conveniences for importing this 

 animal alive from the West-Indies. It is said, however, that the 

 flesh of the turtle has the full perfection of its flavour only on its 

 native shores. 



A common green turtle weighs about two hundred weight, 

 and some have been found that weighed above eight hundred. 

 This animal seldom quits the sea, except to deposit its eggs, 

 which, in about twenty-five days, are hatched by the heat of the 

 sun. The young ones, as soon as they burst from the sand, di- 

 rected by instinct, run immediately towards the sea, which Prov- 

 idence has designed for their abode. Turtles have sometimes, 

 although seldom, been caught on the British shores. 



TESTACEOUS FISHES 



Admit of so great a diversity both in the form and colour of 

 their shells, that the study of them has been the principal em- 

 ployment of the lives of some naturalists ; and collections of 

 them have been made, at an expense difficult to estimate, or even 

 to conceive. It will not, therefore, be expected that we should 

 enter into any minute details on a subject varied and ramified 

 almost to infinity. It would only burden the memory, without 

 furnishing the mind with useful information. We shall only 

 mention a few general distinctions. 



Naturalists have varied in their methods of classing and dis- 

 tinguishing shells, and the animals that wear them. The great- 

 est number, however, with Aristotle at their head, divide them 

 into three classes, — the turbinated, or snail kind ; the bivalved, 

 or those of the oyster kind ; and the multivalued, or those which 

 consist of many foldings. 



Among the turbinated kind, the common garden-snail, which 

 appears so insignificant, is a curious animal, and, when 

 thoroughly examined, displays the wonders of Creative Wisdom 

 as much as the largest of the quadruped race. It has, in the 

 watery element, its corresponding kind, the sea-snail, which is 

 equally curious, and has similar propensities. Of the bivalvular 

 kind, the oyster is the most estimable, both as excellent and nu- 

 tritious food, and as a valuable article of commerce. A species 

 of these, called rock oysters, are frequently seen as large as a 

 plate; and those which are caught on the coast of Coromandel, 

 are said to be of so great a size, that one of them will serve 

 several men for a meal ; but they have not so delicate a flavoui 

 as those of the smaller kinds. 



All oysters, and many other shell-fish, are known sometimes 

 to contain pearls ; but that which particularly obtains the name 



