TURTLE CULTUEB. 79 



over tlie young is concerned. M. Salles proposes, howerer, to 

 do more than is yet done at Ascension ; he thinks that, to arrive 

 quickly at a useful result, it would be best to obtain a certain 

 number of these animals from places where they are still 

 abundant, and transport them to such parks or receptacles as 

 might be established on the coasts of France and Corsica, where, 

 at one time, turtles were plentiful. Animals about to lay would 

 be the best to secure for the proposed experiments ; and these 

 might be captured when seeking the sandy shores for the pur- 

 pose of depositing their eggs. Male turtles might at the same 

 time be taken about the islets which they frequent. A vessel 

 of sufficient dimensions should be in readiness to bring away the 

 precious freight ; and the captured animals, on arrivipg at their 

 destination, should be deposited in a park chosen under the 

 following considerations : — The formation of the sides to be an 

 inclosure by means of an artificial barrier of moderate height, 

 formed of stones, and perpendicular within, so as to prevent the 

 escape of the animals, but so constructed as to admit the sea, 

 and, at the same time, allow of a large sandy background for 

 the deposition of the eggs, which are about the size of those laid 

 by geese. As the turtles are herbivorous, the bottom of the 

 park should be covered with sea-weeds and marine plants of all 

 kinds, similar to those the animal is accustomed to at home. A 

 fine southern exposure ought to be chosen for the site of the 

 park, in order to obtain as much of the sunshine as possible, heat 

 being the one grand element in the hatching of the eggs. Turtles 

 are very fond of sunshine, and float lazily about in the tropical . 

 water, seldom coming to the shore except to lay. This they do 

 in the night-time : crawling cautiously ashore, and scraping a 

 large hole in a part of the sand which is never reached by the 

 tide, they deposit their eggs, and carefully cover them with the 

 sand, leaving the sun to effect the work of quickSning them 

 into life. 



It may be as well to state here that the French people eat 

 all kinds of fish, whether they be from the sea, the river, the 

 lake, or the canal. In Scotland and Ireland the salmon only is 

 bred artificially as yet, and chiefly because it is a valuable and 

 money-yielding animal, and no other fresh-water fish is regarded 

 in these countries as being of value except for sport. In France 

 large quantities of eels are bred and eaten ; but in Scotland, 

 and in some parts of England, the people have such a horror of 

 that fish that they will not touch it. This of course is due to 



