Mysteries of Growth I2I 



vbat the Turtle, the Edible Turtle, Kves iipoa dming 

 bis adolescence. There be Turtle who are known to 

 hve v^xm strange foods, bat in eveiy case they aie a 

 sort of cooqircanise between Turtle and tortcuse, or even 

 Turtle, toctoise, and lizard. (H these are the Emysa ura 

 sarp€niina, dwdhng in and around Chiental lakes and 

 rivers, and hviug indisdimiDately npon small fish, 

 reptiles, and even small birds. The Gymtuyfms of 

 AMcan rireis feeds, dear ereature, upon young croco- 

 diles, and evcdves from that uncanny diet most delicate 

 flesh, \rtiich. albeit it is stron^y flavonred with musk, 

 is most bi^ify pdxed. But the Thalassians, or true 

 Sea Turtles, may eat o^ alire or dead, or they may eat 

 certain kinds of weed ; all we can say is, that we do not 

 know what they eat afx how kmg they can fast, except 

 that from the time a Turtle has been ' turned.' say, on a 

 Jamaican beatdi until it has been converted into soup 

 ftH" a Ixwd Mayor's banquet in London, it eats nothing, 

 and does not seem any the poorer fcs' it. 



Being of a kthargic habit, of course there is not 

 muc& waste of tissue. Havii^ assisted at the butchay 

 of many Turtles just froan the sea, and examined, as 

 was always my wont, the contents of thdr stomadts. 

 I haTe never found anything idaiti&able therein, ex- 

 cept a few stcHies and cuttle-fish beaks, which latter 

 kx^ as if the Torfle, like neaify all other sea fi^ and 

 mammals, eats cuttle, but is not proof positive. And, 

 beside, the squid is so ploitiful in some weed-covered 

 q)ots of ocean, that if the Turtle grazed upon the weed 

 be could not help eating maigr cuttles at the same 

 time. 



But, witatever oar ]niung friend eats, and w herev e r 

 he eats it, one fact emerges ; it agrees with him im- 

 mensely. He grows apace, his homy covering growing, 

 too, since be does not cast it like the Crustacea: heleads 



