80 



GREEN TURTLE. 



Testudo Mydas. T, testa subfusca, scutellis disci tredecim. 



Brownish Turtle, with thirteen scales on the disk. 



Testudo Mydas. T. pedibus pinniformibus, mguibus palmarum 



hinisj plantarum solitariis. Lin. Syst, Nat. p. 350. 

 Testudo viridis. T. pedibus pinniformibus, ungvibus^ palmarum 



hinis, plantarum solitariis, testa ovata. Schneid. Test. p. 299" 

 Testudo Mydas. Lin. Syst. Nat. Gmel.p. 1037. 

 Testudo rostro gallinaceo. Walb. CJielon. p. S5, 

 Common Green Turtle. 

 Esculent Turtle, 



The Green Turtle, so named, not on account 

 of its being externally of that colour, but from 

 the green tinge * which its fat frequently exhi- 

 bits when the animal is taken in its highest state 

 of perfection, may be considered as one of the 

 largest of this genus , often measuring above five 

 feet in length f, and weighing more than five or 

 six hundred pounds. Its shell is of a somewhat 

 heart-shaped form, or pointed at the extremity, 

 and consists of thirteen dorsal segments or divi- 

 sions, surrounded by twenty-five marginal pieces. 

 Its colour is a dull palish brown, more or less va- 

 riegated, with deeper undulations, but not exhi^ 

 biting those strong and beautiful colours which 

 so peculiarly distinguish that of the T. imbricata, 



* This is supposed to be chiefly derived from the vegetable 

 substances on which the animal feeds, and more particularly to 

 the Zostera marina^ or Turtle-grass, of which it is said to be pe- 

 culiarly fond. 



t According to some accounts more than^six feet. 



