TURTLES, 
197 
Still another is the hawk-bill or tortoise-shell turtle {Eret- 
mochelys imbricata), the plates of whose shell is an article 
of commerce. The green-turtle of the West Indies weighs 
from two hundred to three hundred pounds, and is used 
for making delicious soups and steaks, being caught at 
night when laying its eggs on sandy shores. All the fore- 
going species have large, flat, broad flippers or fin-like 
limbs, while in the pond and river turtles the feet are 
webbed and the toes distinct. A very ferocious species is 
the common soft-shelled turtle {A spidonedes spinifer), 
whose shell is covered with a thick leathery skin. It is 
carnivorous, voracious, living in shallow muddy water, 
throwing itself forward upon small animals forming its 
prey. The snapping- turtle {Clielydra serpentma) some- 
times becomes five feet long; its ferocity is well-known; the 
flesh makes an excellent soup. 
The terrapins belong to the genus Pseiidemys; the pretty 
painted turtle {Chrysemys picta) is common in the Eastern 
States, while the Nanemys guttahts, or spotted tortoise, is 
black, spotted with orange. In the land tortoises the feet 
are short and stumpy. The Testitdo Indica of India is 
three feet in length. The great land tortoises of the Gala- 
pagos Islands, the Mascarine Islands (Mauritius and Eod- 
riguez), and also of the Aldabra Islands, lying northwest 
of Madagascar, are in some cases colossal in size, the shells 
being nearly two metres (six feet) in length. Tlie fierce 
Mascarine species were contemporaries of the dodo and 
solitaire, and are now extinct. 
The turtles lay their eggs in sand on the shores of ponds 
and rivers. In the Middle and New England States nearly 
all the turtles lay their eggs on or about June 10th, the 
eggs being hatched late in the summer. Turtles do not lay 
eggs until eleven to thirteen years old. 
The land tortoises, as probably all turtles, are long-lived, 
and often reach a groat age. White, in his Natural His- 
tory of Selborne," relates that one was kept in a village till 
it was supposed to be 100 years old. 
