ORDER CHELONIA. 81 



weighs more than twenty pounds. It is a mischievous and 

 voracious animal, tearing young ducks and fishes, and often 

 attacking its own species. It occasionally removes to some 

 distance from the water. It seizes its prey, rising on its hind 

 feet, and elongating its neck with great rapidity of motion. 

 It is said to utter a hissing cry, and when irritated, to bite 

 with so much violence, that there is much difficulty in forcing 

 it to let go its hold. SchoepfF reared several individuals of 

 this species in a chamber. They always looked out for the 

 most gloomy corners, and concealed themselves in the ashes 

 of the chimney. 



We now come to the Chelonians proper, or sea tortoises, 

 vulgarly termed turtles in this country. M. Brongniart 

 devoted the name Chelonia to them, and it is highly proper, 

 as preserving an analogous signification to the original word 

 amgng the ancient Greeks. It is unnecessary to add any 

 thing here to the generic characters given in the text. 



The marine tortoises are all inhabitants of the seas of warm 

 climates, under the torrid zone, and as far as the fifteenth 

 degree of latitude. One single species, that of Japan, lives 

 in the fresh water. 



The Green turtle — Shaw — Testudo mydas, has its scales 

 neither imbricated nor carinated. The lower jaw is strongly 

 denticulated. The head is comparatively smaller than that of 

 other marine tortoises. The carapace is oval, heart-formed, 

 and but little convex. All the scales are very transparent 

 and agreeably shaded : they are also very slender. When 

 the animal is in the water the colour of the carapace is a deep 

 green, though Dr. Shaw informs us, that it is from the 

 tinge of the fat that this reptile has been named the green 

 turtle. 



According to Dr. Cloquet, this tortoise exceeds all others 

 of its genus in size and weight, being six or seven feet long, 

 and weight seven or eight hundred pounds. But Dr. Shaw 



VOL. IX. c. 



