94 CLASS REPTILIA. 



along with the absence of a plastron or breast-plate, furnishes 

 very sufficient reasons for a generic distinction of this ani- 

 mal. The head is large, and the upper mandible notched at 

 the top- The legs are large and long, and covered with a 

 similar substance to that on the back. The tail is short and 

 sharp. 



This remarkable species is a native of the Mediterranean 

 Sea, and has at different periods been taken on the coasts 

 both of France and England. In 1779? one was taken at 

 Cette, measuring five feet five inches. In 1729, one, said to 

 have been seven feet one inch, was caught near the mouth of 

 the Loire. M. de Lafont, who has described it, says that it 

 uttered dreadful bowlings when it was killed. But this fact 

 is so far from being well authenticated, that it does not seem 

 at all probable. In July, 1756, says Borlase, in his History 

 of Cornwall, one was taken which " measured six feet nine 

 inches from the tip of the nose to the end of the shell ; ten 

 feet four inches from the extremity of the fore-fins extended ; 

 and was adjudged to weigh eight hundred pounds weight." 



This species belongs not only to the European seas, but is 

 also found in the South American ; it occasionally appears 

 about the African coasts, and is said to lay its eggs in the 

 sand on those of Barbary. 



The ancient Greeks were well acquainted with this animal. 

 According to traditions preserved among them, the first lyre 

 is said to have been fabricated of its shell. Accordingly, they 

 consecrated this animal to Mercury, the inventor of that 

 instrument. Notwithstanding this, Pausanius informs us, 

 that the tortoises employed for this purpose were those of the 

 woods of Arcadia. It may also be observed, that Rondeletius 

 is the first modern who has attributed this employment to the 

 carapace of the species noAv in question. In this supposition, 

 he has been followed by most of his successors, ut mos est. 

 The French call this animal hith, from this circumstance ; 



