176 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



pable of aerating so great a quantity of blood as ours, as their cells 

 are much larger, thus offering less surface to the action of the air ; 

 and finally, the ribs of the turtles being immovable, they are in- 

 capable of extending the lungs, so that the animal is absolutely 

 obliged to swallow the necessary supply of air, and to pump it, as 

 it were, into the lungs, by contracting the muscles of the throat. 

 Thus we see that every precaution has been taken to reduce respi- 

 ration to a low standard, and prevent the evolution of heat. With 

 this indolence of its cold-blooded circulation, the whole nature 

 of the animal is in harmony ; the bluntness of its senses, its want 

 of intelligence, its slow movements, and its long endurance of. ! s 

 hunger, thirst, and want of air. It leads but a drowsy dream- 

 like existence, and yet, we may be sure, it is far from unhappy, 

 for all its functions and organs agree perfectly one with the other, 

 and when concord reigns, enjoyment of some kind must exist. 



The turtles are distinguished from the land tortoises particu- 

 larly by their large and long fin-shaped feet, and also by a 

 longer tail, which serves them as a rudder. They have no teeth, 

 but the horny upper jaw closes over the lower like the lid of a 

 box, thus serving them as excellent shears, either for crushing 

 shells or dividing the tough fibres of the sea-grass. 



They are at home in all the warmer seas, but sometimes they 

 are carried by oceanic streams far away from their accustomed 



haunts. Thus, in the year 1752, 

 a Green turtle, six feet long, and 

 weighing900 pounds, stranded near 

 Dieppe; and in ] 778 another, seven 

 feet long, on the coastof Languedoc. 

 Green Turtle ^ ne t^en on the coast of Cornwall 



in July, 1756, measured from the 

 tip of the nose to the end of the shell, six feet nine inches, and 

 the weight was supposed to be nearly 800 pounds. These few 

 examples show us that the turtles rank among the larger inha- 

 bitants of the ocean, although they are far from attaining the 

 fabulous proportions assigned to them by Pliny (who makes the 

 Indians use their shells as boats or roofs), or the enormous size 

 of some colossal extinct species, such as the fossil tortoise from 

 the Siwala hills, preserved in the East Indian Museum, which 

 measures twelve feet in length. They live almost constantly at 

 sea, partly on shell-fish, like the fierce Loggerhead turtle 



