TURTLES. 445 



species, T. oKvacea, has but a single claw on each foot. Its flesh is only eaten by the 

 Chinese. 



Of the genus Eretmochelys but two species are known, both of which are found 

 along the coast of the United States ; E. imbricata from Brazil to the Carolinas, and 

 E. sqioamata, along the Pacific coast. They are at once distinguished from the other 

 sea-turtles, because of their small size, and in that the thirteen vertebral and costal 

 shields are imbricate. 



The hawk-bill or caret, E. imbricata, is a carnivorous animal, living on the same 

 food as the loggerhead, but of a much more ferocious nature, snapping at whatever 

 may excite its rage, and in captivity using its strong jaws with no other apparent 

 reason than to pick up a quarrel. From an economic standpoint, the animal is of con- 

 siderable value, because of its so-called 'tortoise-shell,' the horny imbricate plates 

 covering the bony framework, which are in this genus very thick, and of such a nature 

 that by the proper application of heat they cleave away from the underlying bone 

 and can be warped or moulded after being immersed in hot water. It is of good 

 quality only when taken from the older individuals, and varies much in weight. The 

 c)aret of the Pacific is said to be sometimes roasted alive until the plates start from its 

 back ; these are torn off, and the animal is then allowed to escape. This cruel expe- 

 dient is resorted to because the shell is supposed by the ignorant fishermen to lose 

 much of its brilliancy if the animal has been dead for any length of time. The finest 

 tortoise-shell, however, — that taken on the Celebes, — is removed by the use of boiling 

 water after the animals have been previously killed. The flesh of the hawk-bills is 

 inferior, though their eggs are sweet and palatable. 



The genus Chelonia, having thirteen large appressed plates on the back, is repre- 

 sented by an Atlantic and a Pacific species. 



The common green-turtle, C. mydas, is found along the Atlantic coast, from south- 

 ern Brazil to Cape Hatteras, and is not infrequently seen in the Gulf Stream, and even 

 further north, a few specimens having been taken east of Long Island. This is the 

 most valuable of the turtles for food, and sometimes reaches the enormous weight of 

 eight hundred and fifty pounds. It is a vegetarian, feeding on the roots of Zostera, 

 the plant known in New England as eel-grass, though further south it is called turtle- 

 grass. When thus grazing, the roots only being acceptable food, the tops are allowed 

 to rise to the surface, where they indicate to the ' turtler ' the animal's whereabouts, 

 who, armed with a strong steel barb attached to a roj^e, and loosely fitted to the end of 

 a pole, carefully rows up to the unsuspecting animal, with a strong thrust plunges 

 the barb through its shell, withdraws the pole, and grasping the rope, now firmly 

 attached to the turtle's back, lifts the animal to the surface, and, with assistance, turns 

 it into the boat, where it is rendered helpless by being thrown on its back and by hav- 

 ing its flippers tied. It is not immediately killed, but is placed in a ' crawl,' or turtle 

 pen, where it is bathed by the tide, to wait with other unfortunates the departure of 

 some vessel for the northern markets. The war of extermination is not waged against 

 the adults alone, nor only in their proper element. Early in summer the females 

 repair to the low, sandy, uninhabited islands of the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean 

 Sea. At night, if there seems no ground for suspicion, one crawls some little distance 

 up on the sand, and, finding a satisfactory place, at once begins to dig a hollow, in 

 which are deposited from seventy-five to two hundred spherical eggs of about the 

 bulk of those of a hen. These are carefully covered over, and the animal retreats to 

 the water. The turtler, on going his rounds the following morning, notes the trampled 



