408 The Hiflory of she Book X. 
Ephraim 
Chambers, 
vide Cham- 
bers’s Dic- 
tionary. 
They are ‘in“fome Seafons of the Year, efpecially, when catight in Chrift- 
Church Parith or thereabouts, very poifonous ; at fuch Times there are 
generally in their Gills two fmall red Lumps ; and when they are 
fufpected to be poifonous, ‘they try the Experiment upon a Duck, 
by giving her one of thefe to {wallow ; and if at that Seafon it is 
‘poifonous, the Duck dies in about two Hours. 
The Devin! 
YH E ridiculous Reprefentation of. this Fith by moft Painters and 
[ Engravers (even after its true Shapes being fo well known) is a 
{trong Inftance that: vulgar’ Errors are» but with great Difficulty got 
over. It is fo far. from ‘having a large Head and Gills, a crooked, 
thorny Back, &c./as'.generally reprefented; that it is one of the 
ftreighteft Fith that: fwims.: This is delineated in Plate XXIX. 
‘The Sta Tortoise. 
Rh AL OST, if not all Authors, who have treated of this fearce- 
N to-be-called amphibious Animal, have inadvertently rank’d> it 
among the teftaceous Kind 5 ‘tho’ it is apparently otherwife by its nu- 
merous ftrong Ribs and Back-Bone; ‘The feveral Lamina, which 
adorn and fortify its Back, are fo far. from being of the Shell-Kind, 
that they are rather an elaftick, tranfparent, horny Subftance. A late 
ingenious afd very ufeful, Author hath*been much impofed upon, by 
a pretended Defcription of this Animal ; efpecially whete he afferts 
that the Under-Shell is ‘what alone is made Ufe of 3; and that to 
feparate this from the upper, ‘Fire; is made underneath ; and that as 
foon as itis heated, the Shell: becomes eafily feparable, and fo taken 
off with the Point of a Knife, and that with ‘0 little Prejudice, that 
the Zortoife, being afterwards permitted to go into the’ Sea, not only 
lives, but hath its Armour or Shéll foon. renewed. Thus that induf- 
trious and learned Gentleman, whilft laudably defirous to give Man- 
kind as true a Defcription of this, as he does of almoft every Thing 
he treats of, wasmuch impofed upon by hisInformer. This Misfortune wil] 
fometimes happen, when our Informations come from Perfons, who are 
fond of aggrandizing, or leflening what is; or is ‘not, agreeable to their 
own favourite Opinions, or groundlefs Imaginations. The Defcription 
of the Zortoife juft now mentioned, is fo far from being true, that the 
lower Shell; or what is fo called, is of no Manner of Ufe, the upper 
alone being of Service ; nor can this be come at “till the Zorzoi/e is not 
only dead, but all the Fleth likewife taken from the Ribs and Back ; ig 
is not till then that a Fire is made under the infide of the Upper-Shell 
(as I fthall in Conformity to the received Opinion call it ; though 
it is manifeft it is not a Shell from its elaftick Quality.) And: 
; When 
