90 CLASS REPTILIA. 



on rocks which grows under water, &c. ; and Catesby informs 

 us, that it eats a fungus, which the Americans denominate 

 Jew^s ear. 



The flesh is disagreeable and unwholesome. According to 

 Dampier, it purges those violently who eat of it. Labat tells 

 us, that, in Martinico, it produces fever, and causes boils to 

 break out over tlie entire body. Notwithstanding this, its 

 eggs are excellent eating. 



But if the imbricated turtle presents us no advantages on 

 the score of food, it is highly deserving attention for the 

 value of its shell, which, from the remotest ages, has served 

 for the purposes of decorating the furniture and palaces of 

 the great. The plates, which are stronger, thicker, and more 

 transparent than those of any other kind of tortoise, consti- 

 tute, in fact, the sole value of the animal, by affording the 

 substance which is particularly known by the name of tor- 

 toise-shell. They are half transparent, and beautifully varied 

 with whitish, yellowish, reddish, and dark brown clouds and 

 waves ; they take a fine polish, and constitute, for all orna- 

 mental purposes, a most elegant article. 



The dorsal pieces are thirteen, and the marginal twenty- 

 five, smaller than the others. These are raised and separated 

 from the bony part, which they cover, by putting fire under 

 the shell. The heat causes the plates to start, which are then 

 easily detached from the bone. Almost eight pounds of tor- 

 toise-shell may be thus gained from a large turtle, sometimes as 

 much as fifteen or twenty ; and the shell is not considered as 

 of much value, unless the animal weigh at least one hundred 

 and fifty pounds. 



The next process is steeping the tortoise-shell in boiling 

 water, for the purpose of softening it, and it is then put into 

 a strong metallic mould of the figure required. When pieces 

 are to be joined, the edges must be first scraped, and, while 

 heated, laid over each other, and put into a strong press, 



