10 CORIACEOUS TORTOISE. Class III. 



Midsummer, 1756: the largest weighed eight 

 hundred pounds, the lesser nearly seven hun- 

 dred. A third, of equal weight with the 

 first, was caught on the coast of Dorset- 

 shire, and deposited in the Lever ian Museum. 

 The late* bishop of Carlisle informed me, that 

 a Tortoise was taken off the coast of Scarbo- 

 rough, in 1748, or 1749- It was purchased by 

 a family then resident there, and several per- 

 sons were invited to partake of it. A gentle- 

 man, who was one of the guests, told them it 

 was a Mediterranean turtle, and not whole- 

 some ; only one of the company eat of it, who 

 suffered severely, being seized with dreadful 

 vomiting and purging. 

 Descrip- The length of the body is four feet ten inches ; 

 of the head nine inches and a half; of the neck 

 three ; or of the whole five feet eleven inches. 

 The upper jaw bifurcated at the end ; the ex- 

 tremity of the lower sharp, clasping into the 

 fork of the upper ; the nostrils small and round. 

 The breadth of the body in the largest part is 

 three feet. The length of the fore fins two feet 

 seven ; of the hind thirteen inches and a half; 

 they are smooth, grow pointed to the extremity, 

 and are destitute of toes. These fins are stuffed; 



* The right reverend Charles Egerton. Ed. 



tion. 



