212 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
earth, generally in a warm situation, where the beams of the 
sun have their full effect. There depositing her eggs, and 
covering them with grass and leaves, she forsakes them, to 
be hatched by the heat of the season. The young tortoises 
are generally excluded in about twenty-six days ; but, as the 
heat of the weather assists, or its coldness retards incubation, 
sometimes it happens that there is a difference of two or three 
days. The little animals no sooner leave the egg, than they 
seek for their provision, entirely self-taught : and their shell, 
with which they are covered from the beginning, expands and 
grows larger with age. As it is composed of a variety of 
pieces, they are all capable of extension at their sutures ; and 
the shell admits of increase in every direction. 
It is common enough to take these animals into gardens, 
as they are thought to destroy insects and snails in great 
abundance. We are even told that, in hot countries, they 
are admitted into a domestic state, as they are great destroy- 
ers of bugs. 
The Sea Tortoise , or Turtle , as it is now called, is gene- 
rally found larger than the former. 
The great Mediterranean turtle is the largest of the turtle 
kind with which we are acquainted. It is found from five to 
eightfeet long, and from six to nine hundred pounds weight; 
but, unluckily, its utility bears no proportion to its size, as it 
is unfit for food, and sometimes poisons those who eat it. The 
shell also, which is a tough, strong integument, resembling 
an hide, is unfit for all serviceable purposes One of these 
animals was taken in the year 1729, at the mouth of the 
jjioire, in nets that were not designed for so large a capture, 
ifhis turtle, which was of enormous strength, by its own 
struggles, involved itself in the nets in such a manner as to 
be incapable of doing mischief: yet, even thus shackled, it 
appeared terrible to fishermen, who were at first for flying ; but 
finding it impotent, they gathered courage to drag it on shore, 
where it made a most horrible bellowing; anu when they 
began to knock it on the head with their gaffs, it was to be 
heard at half a mile’s distance. They were still further inti- 
midated by its nauseous and pestilential breath, which so 
powerfully affected them, that they were near fainting. This 
animal wanted but four inches of being eight feet long, and 
was about two feet over; i ts shell more resembled leather than 
the shell of a tortoise ; and, unlike all other animals of this 
kind, it was furnished with teeth in each jaw, one rank be- 
hind another, like those of a shark ; its feet, also different 
from the rest of this kind, wanted claws ; and the tail was 
quite disengaged from the shell, and fifteen inches long, 
more resembling that of a quadruped, than a tortoise. 
