Chap. 14.] 
DISTEIBTJTION OF AQTJATIC AlflMALS. 3/9 
3^ear. Some persons are of opinion that they hatch their eggs 
by means of the eyes, by merely looking at them, and that the 
female refuses to have any intercourse with the male until he 
has placed a wisp of straw^ upon her back. The Trogiodytse 
have turtles with horns,^ which resemble the branches of a 
lyre ; they are large, but moveable, and assist the animal like so 
many oars while swimming. The name of this fine, but rarely- 
found turtle, is "chelyon;''* for the rocks, from the sharp- 
ness of their points, frighten away the Chelonophagi,^ while 
the Troglodytse, whose shores these animals frequent, worship 
them as sacred. There are some land turtles also, the shells 
of which, used for the purposes of art, are thence called by 
the name of chersinae they are found in the deserts of 
Africa, in the parts where the scorched sands are more espe- 
cially destitute of water, and subsist, it is believed, upon the 
moisture of the dews. No other animal is to be found there. 
CHAP. 13. (11.) — WHO FIEST INVENTED THE AET OF CUTTING 
TOETOISE- SHELL. 
Carvilius Pollio, a man of prodigal habits and ingenious in 
inventing the refinements of luxury, was the first to cut the 
shell of the tortoise into laminse, and to veneer beds and cabi- 
nets'^ with it. 
CHAP. 14. (12.) niSTEIBUTION OF AQUATIC ANIMALS INTO 
VAEIOUS SPECIES. 
The integuments of the aquatic animals are many in num- 
2 Oppian, Halieut. B. i. 1. 522, has a passage to a somewhat similar 
effect. Holland's notion of the meaning of this passage is singular in the 
extreme. " The female fleeth from the male, and will not abide to engen- 
der, until such time as he pricke her behind, and sticke somewhat in her 
taile for running away from him so fast" 
^ Cuvier remarks, that it is evident that the fore-feet were here taken for 
horns, they being in the turtle long, narrow, and pointed. 
^ From the Greek x^^^or, " tortoise-shell." See B. vi. c. 34. 
5 Or " turtle eaters." See B. vi. c. 28. 
6 From x^p^^ti/dt, " land turtles," or *' tortoises." 
" Eepositorium " seems to have been the name for a large tray upon 
which viands were brought to table ; and probably for stands similar to 
our sideboards, as well as cabinets or wardrobes. Carvilius Pollio, a 
Roman eques, lived in the time of the Dictator Sylla, and was celebrated 
for his luxury in ornamental furniture. He is again mentioned by Pliny 
in B. XXX. c. 51. 
