ORDER CHELONIA. 51 



abdomen. The stomach is situated under the liver, and is 

 not formed unlike that of dogs. It discharges itself into the 

 duodenum, which, like it, has folds and interior membranes, 

 and may be considered as a second stomach. The liver is a 

 firm substance, and composed of two parts, which are divided 

 into seven lobes on their edges. In the spleen, pancreas, and 

 kidneys, there is nothing remarkable. 



The marine tortoises lay their eggs about the middle 

 of spring. Then they proceed on shore during the night, 

 dig a hole out of the range of the high tide with their fore 

 feet, and lay about a hundred eggs there, which they cover 

 with the sand. This operation is repeated three times, at 

 intervals, as is said, of fourteen days. The tortoises, though 

 in general so timid, are so much absorbed by this occupation, 

 as to be quite insensible to the approach of danger. At this 

 period they can be turned over and caught with great facility. 

 It is the females alone which come to the shore on these 

 occasions, and therefore we cannot be astonished if tortoises 

 are growing more rare every day in the places where they 

 were formerly numerous. Both themselves and their eggs 

 are sought after with avidity, and each year thus destroys 

 the hope of future generations. This consideration sug- 

 gested to Martin Moncamps, who had travelled much in the 

 Indian seas, the idea of establishing, at the Sechelle Islands, 

 depots for the tortoises, where males and females might be 

 preserved for reproduction. This idea, probably, is not one of 

 very easy execution ; but it could not have originated but from 

 a true friend of humanity. There are, indeed, depots of this 

 kind in Jamaica and elsewhere, but they rather increase the 

 destruction of these animals, by administering to the luxury 

 of our civic banquets. 



The eggs of the marine tortoises, thus abandoned in the 

 sand to the vivifying influence of the sun's heat, do not 



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