330 OEDEKS OF KEPTILES— TORTOISES, TERRAPINS AND TURTLES 



A large specimen has a shell 16 inches long by 

 14 inches wide, and weighs from 20 to 30 pounds. 

 The upper surface is olive brown mottled with 

 black, and underneath is clear white. On ac- 

 count of its widely palmated feet, these " turtles " 

 are the most active swimmers of all the fresh- 

 water terrapins and turtles. In North America 

 this Family is represented by five species. 



THE SEA-TURTLES. 



The sea is so vast, it is but natural that we 

 should look to it for the largest species of Chelo- 

 nians. There is one character by which any one 

 can recognize a sea-turtle, anywhere. The front 

 limbs are developed as long, flat, triangular flip- 

 pers, without separate toes and claws, like the 

 flippers of a sea-lion. 



Nearly all the sea-going Turtles are large, and 

 one species is the largest of all living Chelonians. 

 Without exception, all are habitants of tropical 

 waters; but occasionally an individual is lulled 

 into fancied security, and borne northward in 

 the warm waters of the Gulf Stream until it 

 wanders out of the track, and suddenly finds 

 itself in the chilly arctic current. Then, be- 

 numbed with cold, it falls an easy prey to the 

 first predatory fisherman who sails near it, and 

 promptly lands in Fulton Market. 



HARD-SHELLED SEA-TURTLES. 



Chelonidae. 



The Green Turtle 1 is the most important and 

 valuable of the sea-turtles, and in the Atlantic, it 

 is the species that is most widely distributed. 

 It is of large size, its flesh is excellent food, and 

 wherever found it is regarded as a prize. It is 

 said that sometimes it attains a weight of about 

 600 pounds; but those which now find their way 

 to market in our large cities are steadily dimin- 

 ishing in size, and rarely exceed fifty pounds. 



This turtle is found from Long Island down 

 the Atlantic to Cuba, throughout the Gulf of 

 Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the West Indies, and 

 on southward to Brazil. It is also found in the 

 Indian Ocean, and is common on the coast of 

 Ceylon. I should say that on our coast Key 

 West is its centre of greatest abundance and 

 maximum size. The favorite haunts of this 

 creature are in the shallow channels that lie be- 

 1 Che-lo'ne my' das. 



tween the keys, where they find quiet waters and 

 plenty of food, but no security from the sharp 

 eyes of the turtle-catchers. It feeds upon aqua- 

 tic plants that grow on the bottom of shallow 

 seas. 



A large proportion of the Green Turtles capt- 

 ured on the Florida coast are sent north, by 

 steamer and rail, to supply the ever-greedy and 

 high-priced city markets from Baltimore north- 

 ward. 



And really, it is not surprising that the flesh 

 of this animal is considered most excellent food, 

 and much sought after, both for soups and steaks. 

 It is tender, fine-grained, dark colored, not too 

 fat and very agreeable in flavor. Moreover, this 

 is a clean-looking animal, its shell is smooth, its 

 head is small and neatly formed, and the front 

 flippers are scaled, quite down to their extremi- 

 ties. The shell is of no commercial value. 



The Hawksbill Turtle, or Tortoise-Shell 

 Turtle, 2 furnishes the valuable tortoise-shell of 

 commerce, and it is the most beautiful of all the 

 Chelonians. Its name is derived from the strong- 

 ly hooked beak which terminates its upper jaw. 

 Its back is covered with a roof of very beautiful 

 curved plates of tortoise-shell, overlapping like 

 shingles, each scale terminating in a saw-tooth 

 point. The scales are clear yellowish horn, beau- 

 tifully mottled with black and brown. 



This species is yet found occasionally around 

 the Bahama Islands, where the sea is very clear, 

 and the white-sand bottom is liberally garnished 

 with sea-fans, corals, and other beautiful inverte- 

 brate forms. Its range as a whole is from the 

 coast of southern Florida, the Bahamas and the 

 Gulf of Mexico, southward through the West 

 Indies to the Amazon. It also inhabits the tropi- 

 cal waters of the Old World. 



Formerly it often grew to a weight of between 

 twenty and thirty pounds, but it has been so 

 persistently sought after, on account of the com- 

 mercial value of its shell, that all those now seen 

 in the markets are very small. The largest shell 

 on record is 34 inches long. Another species is 

 found on the Pacific coast, and it bears so strong 

 a resemblance to its eastern relative that for a 

 considerable period the two species were be- 

 lieved to be identical. 



The Loggerhead Turtle 3 looks like a coarse 



2 Che-lo'ne im-bri-ca'ta. 



3 Thal-las-so-chel'yfi car-et'ta. 



