16,2 
Taylor: Philippine Turtles 
115 
If the men are in no especial hurry they may wait until the turtle has 
deposited her eggs, which sometimes are 150 to 200 in number, and about 
the size of hens’ eggs, with tough leathery shells. The fishermen then 
kill her before she can reach the water, and dig up the eggs which they 
use as food. The islands of Bancoran, Lumbucan, Arena, Cavilli, and 
others in the Sulif Sea, are well-known nesting places of the turtle, and it 
is only necessary to visit these islands to see the destruction wrought 
during the nesting period. 
The best method of removing the tortoise-shell from the back of the 
turtle is to immerse the back in boiling water until the shell loosens; 
another method is to bury the body in the sand for eight days, when the 
shell becomes loosened; still another is to hold the shell over a slow fire 
until loosened. This latter process usually is employed. In some countries 
the live animal is held over the fire until the shell is loosened; it is then 
turned loose “to grow another shell.” This method is barbarous, not 
only for its cruelty but also for its lack of utility, for the animal promptly 
dies. 
The methods employed in the working of tortoise-shell are quite similar 
to those used in working horn. As a matter of fact, horn frequently is used 
as an imitation of tortoise-shell. Slow heat or steam is employed, the 
shell becoming plastic by immersion in water of 90°C. for two minutes. 
When cool, it retains any shape given it while hot.’ 
The shell taken from the other marine turtles, Chelonia japo- 
nica and Caretta olivacea, is of little value. It is thin and its 
only value lies in using it for veneering and inlaying. The flesh 
of these two species, however, is much more frequently eaten 
than is that of the hawksbill. There are occasional cases re- 
corded where persons have been poisoned by eating the flesh of 
these turtles. Sir J. E. Tennent ® reports a case of poisoning 
from a specimen of Chelonia virgata. 
At certain seasons the flesh of the turtle on the southwestern coast of 
Ceylon is avoided as poisonous, and some lamentable instances are recorded 
of deaths ascribed to its use. At Pantura, to the south of Colombo, twenty- 
eight persons who had partaken of turtle in October, 1840, were immediately 
seized with sickness, after which coma supervened, and eighteen died during 
the night. Those who survived said there was nothing unusual in the 
appearance of the flesh except that it was fatter than ordinary. 
In November, 1917, there occurred in the Philippines a case 
of poisoning, from eating the flesh of a large turtle. Fourteen 
deaths resulting were reported out of thirty -three cases of poison- 
ing. The following is the official communication. It was sus- 
pected that the flesh had been poisoned by some one, but an 
' Seale, A., Philip. Journ. Sci. § D 6 (1911) 293. 
* The Natural History of Ceylon. London, Longman, Green Longman, 
and Roberts (1861) 292. 
