200 SNAKES, TTIirrLES, LIZARDS, CROCODILES 



Sea turtles. — We Ijcgin with the marine species because 

 these comprise tlie largest forriih. Among the sea turtles 

 occurring along the Atlantic coast is the gi'cat leatlier-back 

 turtle, one of the largest living turtles, which attains a 

 length of six to eight feet and weighs nearly a thousand 

 pounds. Its l)on_y, huxlike l)ody is co^'ered \'\'ith a thick, 

 leather)' skin and the toes are joined togetlier to form pad- 

 dles for swimming. Anotlier is the hawklill turtle, which 

 is not much over a third as large as the leather turtle. 

 The bonj' box in which it is incased is covered with horny 

 scales which furnish the "tortoise sliell" of commerce. 

 These scales, or plates, peel off when tlie shell is properly 

 heated. 



A third sea turtle is the green turtle. This tiudle has 

 gained consideratile notoriety from the fact that it furnishes 

 the basis for that delicious ihsli, green turtle soup. This 

 reptile occurs in all tropical seas, but in our own country 

 it is found along the Atlantic coast fronr the Carolinas 

 south, and often weighs as much as eight hundred pounds. 

 It lives on the roots of a sea jilaut known as eel grass or 

 turtle grass. In the ea.rly summer the female turtle 

 crawls on to the sandy shoi'cs of islands in the Gulf of Mexico 

 or Caribbean Sea and lays, in a, holldW Mliich she scoops out 

 of the sand, from one to two lumdred eggs about the size 

 of hen's eggs. When through laying, she covers the eggs 

 with sand and slips into the sea. 



Painted turtle. — Tiiis tui-tle is very common in the ponds 

 and streams from ('.'iiiada Ik the (iulf of Mexico. Dui'ing 

 the winter it liibei-nalcs, but it comes foi'th with the first 

 warm da>'s of sjiring. Its advent is olten heralded hv shrill 

 piping notes. Tlie eggs, laid in a sand Ijank, are liatchcd 

 by tlie sun. Above, the plates of this tin-tie's shell are a 



