TESTUDO. 



ropean feas, but in tliofe of Soutli America, and about 

 UimL- of the African coalls. Tlie Greeks, according to Cc- 

 p6de, were well acquainted with this fpecinien, and iifed it 

 in the conftruftion of the lyre or liarp. (See Ti:sixi)0, in 

 jlnliquUy.) Pennant fays, that this fpccies is extremely fat, 

 but the flciTi coarfe and bad ; but the Carthufians will cat no 

 otlier fpecies. The fmall fea tortoife defcribed by Pennant 

 in the Phil. Tranf. for 1771, is faid to be the young of this 

 animal. Graehn mentions this and another as varieties. 



Imbricata. The imbricated or vaiiegated turtle with 

 thirteen imbricated fcales on the dilk ; thefe lap over each 

 other at the extremities like tiles on the roof of a building. 

 The head is fmaller than in other turtles ; tlie neck longer ; 

 and the beak narrower, fharper, and more curved, fo as con- 

 fiderably to refemble the bill of a hawk, and from tliis cir- 

 cumftance the animal derives its popular name of the 

 " liawklbill turtle." This turtle is a native of the Afiatic 

 and American feas, and is fometimes found in the Mediterra- 

 nean. It has been often known to meafnre five feet in length, 

 and to weigh 500 or 600 pounds. In the Indian ocean it 

 attains a prodigious fize. Its (hell was anciently ufed for 

 a fiiield, and ftill ferves for that purpofe among barbarous 

 nations. The flelh is not eflecmed as a food ; the lamella: 

 or plates of the (hell, being much ftronger, thicker, and 

 clearer than thofe of any other kind, conftitute its fole 

 value. See ToRTOisE-Wif//. 



MvDAS. Brownifh turtle, with tliirteen fcales on the 

 diflc ; the green turtle of fome writers, with two nails on 

 the fcre-feet, and lingle ones on the hind-feet. This com- 

 mon green turtle (efculent turtle), is fo named from the 

 green tinge, derived from the vegetable fubftances on which 

 it feeds, often exhibited by its fat, when the animal is in 

 its higheil perfeftion. It is one of the largeft of this genus, 

 often meafuring above five feet in length (fometimes more 

 than fix), and weighing more than 500 or 600 pounds. Its 

 colour is a dull pali.'h brown, variegated with deeper undu- 

 lations, but not exhibiting the beautiful colours which dif- 

 tinguilh the T. imbricata. Its fle(h, however, is in fucb 

 eftimation, that the inhabitants of the Weft Indian iflands 

 have long confidered it as one of the mod excellent articles 

 of food, and have introduced a fimilai' talle into fome of 

 the European nations. In our own country it is much 

 efteemed, and confiderable quantities of it are imported to 

 fupply the luxury of the metropolis. Its introduftion, 

 however, cannot be traced farther than about 50 or 60 years 

 backwai'd. Sir Hans Sloane informs us, in his Hiftory of 

 Jamaica, that forty (loops were employed by the inhabitants 

 of Port Royal, in Jamaica, for catching them, and that the 

 markets there are fupplied with turtle as ours are with 

 butcher's meat. The method of taking them at the Ba- 

 hama iflands is by ftriking them with a fmall iron peg 

 two inches long, put in a focket at the end of a llaff 

 twelve feet long. Two men ufually fet out for this work 

 in a little light boat or canoe, one to row and gently ftecr 

 the boat, while the other ftands at the head of it with his 

 ftriker. The turtle are fometimes difcovered by theu" fwim- 

 ming with their head and back out of the water, but they 

 are ofteneft difcovered lying at the bottom, a fathom or 

 more deep. If a turtle pci-ceives he is difcovered, he ftai-ts 

 up to make his efcape, the men in the boat purfuing him, 

 endeavour to keep fight of him, wliich they often loie, and 

 recoTer again by the turtle putting his nofe out of the water 

 to breathe : thus they purfue him, one paddling or rowing, 

 v/hile the other ftands ready with his ftriker. It is fome- 

 times half an hour before he is tired ; then he finks at once 

 to the bottom, which gives them an opportunity of ftriking 

 him, which is by piercing him with an iron peg, which flips 



Vol, XXXV. 



out of the focket, but is fattened with a ftring to the pole. 

 If he is fpent and tired by being long purfued, he tamely 

 fubmits, when (truck, to be taken into the boat or hauled 

 afliore. There are men who by diving will get on their 

 backs, and by prefling down tlieir hind parts, and raifing 

 the fore -part of them by force, bring them to the top of 

 the water, while another flips a noofe about their necks. 



The fea tortoifes, or turtles, fays Catefby, never go on 

 fliore but to lay their eggs, which they do in April : tlicy 

 then crawl up from llie lea above the flowing of high water, 

 and dig a hole above two feet deep in the land, into which 

 they drop in one night above an lumdrcd eggs, at which time 

 they are fo intent on Nature's work, that they regard 

 none that approach them ; but will drop their eggs into a 

 hat, if held under them ; but if they are difturbed before 

 they begin to lay, they will forfake the place, and feck an- 

 other. They lay their eggs at three, and fometimes at four 

 different times ; there being fourteen days between every 

 time ; fo that they hatch and creep from their holes into the 

 fea at dilferent times alfo. When they have laid their com- 

 plement of eggs, they fill the hole with fand, and leave 

 them to be hatched by the heat of the fun, which is ufually 

 performed in about three weeks. It may be proper to add, 

 that the eggs are about the fize of tennis-balls, round, white, 

 and covered with a fmooth parchment-like (kin. Gmclin 

 mentions feveral varieties of this fpecies. 



Caretta. The variegated turtle, with fifteen dorfal 

 fcales, thofe of the middle range gibbous towards their 

 tips. This fpecies is larger than any yet difcovered, ex- 

 cept perhaps the coriacea. It is called the " loggerhead 

 turtle;" and though it refembles the laft fpecies, or green 

 turtle, it is diftingui(hcd by the fupcrior fize of the head, 

 the proportional breadth of the (hell, and by its deeper and 

 more variegated colours : but the principal diftinftion con- 

 fifts in the number of dorfal fegments or fcutella of the 

 (hell, which amount conftanlly to fifteen. The fore -feet 

 are very large and long ; the tiind-feet much fliorter, though 

 broad. In a commercial view, this fpecies is of little im- 

 portance ; its flcfh being rank and coarfe, and the laminie 

 of the (hell too thin for general ufe. It is faid, however, to 

 afford a good quantity of oil, which may be ufcd for lamps, 

 &c. This turtle is very ftrong and fierce, and even dan- 

 gerous. It is an inhabitant of the fame feas with the green 

 turtle, but has been found in remote latitudes, even in thii 

 Mediterranean, and particularly about the coafts of Italy 

 and Sicily. 



Macropus. With an ovate, carinate, emarginatc fliield, 

 and the feet very large and bifarioufly unguiculated. 



B. Fluviatlle, tuitb pahnated feet , JJiell joined ivith the Jler- 

 niim by a membrane, andfupported in the middle on lolhjidct 

 by two proceffes of the Jlernum. 



Orbicularis. The T. europea of Schneider, with 

 oval, flatti(h, fmooth, dark brown (hell, marked with very 

 numerous yellowifh fpecks and ftreaks. This fpecklcd tor- 

 toife of the " Naturahft's Mifcellany," or T. meleagris, 

 is of fmall fize, the fliell mcafuring about four or five inches 

 in length, and its diflc compofcd of thirteen, and the margin 

 of twenty-live pieces ; the under fliell whitifli-yellow, tinged 

 towards the joints with brown ; the head ovate, fomcwhat 

 convex above, and flattifli on each fide and beneath ; the 

 flcin of the neck lax and wrinkly ; the legs fhort and fcaly, 

 feet webbed, fore-feet having five toes and hinderonly four ; 

 the claws on all the feet (harp-pointed, and crooked ; the 

 tail nearly half as long as the body, thin, attenuated, eom- 

 preffed and fcaly, and alfo fpotted like the body. 



This elegant fpecies is a native of many parts of Europe, 

 3 E bemg 



