CHAPTER 1. 



TORTO'ISESHELL AND THE TURTLE FISHERIES. 



Marine tortoiseshell — Commercial classification — Land tortoises — Employment 

 of tortoiseshell — ^Mode of working it — Various applications of tortoiseshell 

 — Statistics of imports — The green or edible turtle — Food uses of the flesh 

 and eggs. 



If the earth is made by man to give up its gems and 

 precious stones, for art, and its mineral and vegetable sub- 

 stance for the art workman and the art manufacturer, the 

 sea is also constrained to yield its pearls, its coral, and 

 amber for the jeweller ; its mother-of-pearl and other shells 

 for inlaying and carving, and its tortoiseshell for ornamental 

 work. It also yields treasures for the painter, the sculptor, 

 and the art manufacturer, for designs and studies ; whilst its 

 objects of beauty in corallines, shells, and seaweeds adorn 

 the cabinets of the naturalist, the collector, and public 

 museum. It is to be regretted that even in this scientific 

 age much ignorance still prevails as to the nature, sources 

 of supply, and mode of treatment of many of these marine 

 substances — so worthy of close study and investigation. 



A little scattered information on some of the materials 

 mentioned has, from time to time, been published ; but 

 they seem to require more systematic description. 



The horn-like epidermoid plates which cover the dorsal 

 buckler or carapace of the sea-tortoise, are in some species 



