The Beginnings of Turtle IIQ 



have flung herself upon me with heroic carelessness as 

 to the result. And the youngster was not merely not 

 her own, but belonged to a totally different species ! 

 Oh, the wondrous mystery of motherhood ! Who dare 

 attempt to define its limitations ? 



Many days the sun shines upon that patch of sand, 

 until one morning there is a series of shiny upheavals, 

 little cones erected on the smooth surface. And 

 presently there emerges from the broken-up level a tiny 

 black Turtle about an inch across. Perfect in every 

 detail to the eye, but if you handled him you would find 

 his shell quite soft. With amazing swiftness and 

 guided by God-given instinct he scuttles down to the 

 sea. A gentle wavelet greets him, lifts him to its bosom 

 and he is launched. No weight of family ties oppresses 

 him, he does not know his brothers and sisters swarming 

 after him along the same road, but he does know what 

 his first duty is — to seek adequate shelter. In his little 

 brain there is implanted a streak of caution, based upon 

 the fact that up tiU a certain period his protecting 

 armour is soft, no defence against hungry fish. What 

 then is he to do in order to live ? He has no one to 

 teach him, no parents to guide. Here instinct, that 

 amazing principle which I prefer to consider the guid- 

 ance of an omnipresent God in all His creatures, comes 

 into play. Closely clustered around these shores the 

 gulf-weed {Fucus nutans) grows in tropical profusion, 

 holding within its branching fronds an astounding 

 abundance of marine Ufe. And our little Turtle, feeling 

 his defencelessness, hies him into the heart of one of 

 these weed masses, being presently joined by some of 

 his relatives whose instincts have led them close after 

 him ! 



Here for a blissful season the baby Turtles, all un- 

 leaded save by the all-knowing Intelligence, gather 



