20 
LECTURE VII. 
guished both from the green and the true tortoise-r 
shell turtle or Hawksbill by the more numerous 
divisions of the shell, which amount to fifteen in- 
stead of thirteen, which is the constant number 
in the rest. The Loggerhead Turtle is a very 
strong and fierce animal, and is even dangerous ; 
defending itself with great vigour with its legs, 
and being able to break the strongest substances 
with its mouth. Aldrovandus tells us that on 
offering a thick walking-stick to one which he 
saw publicly exhibited at Bologna, the animal 
bit it in two in an instant. 
The T. imbricata, the Hawksbill, or imbri- 
cated Turtle, is the species which affords the ele- 
gant substance commonly known by the name 
of Tortoise-shell, and of which such innumerable 
ornamental articles are prepared. This species 
of Turtle is called the imbricated Turtle, from 
the disposition of its scales, which lap over each 
other at the tips in the manner of tiles on a 
house, and by this particularity as well as by the 
number of its scales, which are always thirteen, 
it may be distinguished from the Loggerhead 
Turtle, in which the number is fifteen. The 
shape of the bill also, which is sharper and more 
