Marine Tortoises. REPTILES. Marine Tortoises. 75 
from the species of all the other families, both land 
and fresh water. The feet, though the toes are all 
formed of distinct pieces, expanded at the end and 
often armed with sharp claws, are changed into flat, 
depressed fins, which are not fitted for any movement 
but that of swimming, an act which these animals per- 
form with great vigour and celerity. The fore legs 
are very much longer and larger than the hinder ones, 
and this forms a very characteristic feature of the 
species. They are not retractile within the shell. 
The whole structiu'e of the Marine tortoises shows 
an exact correspondence with their manner of living, 
which is essentially aquatic. Their carapace, as well as 
their legs, is exceedingly flattened, a form well adapted 
to admit of rapid movement through the water. It is 
almost always heart-shaped, and has a defined bon}" 
margin. The Land and Fresh-water tortoises have no 
voice except a sort of hissing noise when irritated or 
suddenly laid hold of ; the marine species, on the con- 
trary, some of them more especially, as the one well 
known by the name of Luth (Sjihargis), have a 
remarkable cry, and when caught in the net or severely 
wounded, utter a loud roaring sound, from which, 
indeed, the generic name (Sphargis) is taken — a name 
derived from the Greek word sphargizo 
which means “ to utter a sound with a distended 
throat.” 
The principal food of the Marine tortoises consists 
of marine vegetables, which the structure of the jaws 
just described enables them to cut and masticate with 
facility. Some few, however, especially such as the 
Hawksbill and Loggerhead, which exhale an odour of 
musk, feed also upon certain Crustacea and mollusca, 
more particularly cuttle-fishes. They scarcely ever 
appear to leave the water, except at the time of laying 
eggs. Some of the species, however, it is said, come 
out at night, and creep up on the shores of deserted 
islets, where they clamber up the rocks to browse 
upon the marine plants which form their food. In 
calm latitudes, even seven or eight hundred leagues 
from any land, these animals are often met with lying 
stretched out on the surface of the sea, and in a state 
of absolute immobility, as if they were dead. It is 
believed that they assume that position in order to 
give themselves up to sleep. They have, all of them, 
the faculty of swimming under water for a length of 
time, owing to the fact of their possessing very exten- 
sive lungs. This family of Marine tortoises contains 
some of the largest species of the order to which they 
belong. As we shall see when we come to mention the 
species in detail, some individuals of the Coriaceous 
turtle or Luth have been found to weigh from fifteen 
hundred to sixteen hundred pounds, and others of the 
true turtles to weigh from eight hundred to nine hun- 
dred pounds, with a shell fifteen feet in circumference, 
and nearly seven feet long. They live long, and are 
slow in growth. The males in general are smaller 
than the females. The time during which the sexes 
remain united together lasts a fortnight, or, according 
to some observers, nearly double that time ; and the 
act of reproduction always takes place in the water. 
When the time arrives for depositing her eggs, the 
female has often to traverse spaces of sea more than 
fifty leagues in extent, the male accompanying her or 
following after. By a peculiar kind of instinct, almost 
all the females of the same latitudes, from all parts and 
at nearly fixed periods, repair to the sandy shore of 
some desert island for this purpose. 
The Marine tortoises or turtles are found in the seas 
of all hot climates, but chiefly towards the torrid zone. 
In the equinoctial ocean they abound on the shores of 
the AVest Indian islands, as Cuba, Jamaica, the Cai- 
mans or Alligator Islands, St. Domingo, and the Gulf 
of Mexico ; in the Atlantic Ocean they are found in 
equal abundance at the Cape Verde isles and Ascension ; 
in the Indian Ocean they frequent the shores of the 
Isle of France, Madagascar, the Seychelles, and Kodri- 
guez ; in the Pacific Ocean they are found at the Sand- 
wich Isles and the Galapagos. 
Amongst all the species of the class Reptilia, the 
Marine tortoises are those which are the most useful 
and advantageous to man. In consequence of this, 
in climates where they abound their capture becomes 
an object of gveat importance ; some for their carapace 
or shell, and others for their flesh as an article of food, 
their fat, and their eggs. 
In those countries where turtles abound, and where 
they attain a large size, the natives use the carapace 
as canoes or boats to creep along the coast in. This 
is mentioned by Pliny and Diodorus Siculus, who speak 
of a tribe of Ethiopians on the shores of the Red Sea, 
called from their living so much upon the flesh of these 
Chelonians, “ Chelonophagi,” or Turtle-eaters. And 
that this is not a mere invention of these ancient authors 
seems to be proved, and the. statement corroborated, by 
a fact mentioned by Dampier : — ■“ I heard,” he says, 
“ of a monstrous Green Turtle once taken at Port- 
Royal in the Bay of Campeachy, that was four feet 
deep from the back to the belly, and the belly six feet 
broad. Captain Rock’s son of about nine or ten years 
of age, went in it as in a boat, on board his father’s 
ship, about a quarter of a mile from the shore.” These 
shells are made use of also in some parts by the natives 
as a covering for their huts, as troughs for the domestic 
cattle to drink out of, and as baths for their children. 
“ In the Gulf of Manaar,” says Sir J. Emerson Ten- 
nent in his account of Ceylon, “ turtle is frequently 
found of such a size as to measure between four and 
five feet in length ; and on one occasion, in riding 
along the sea-shore north of Puttam, I saw a man in 
charge of some sheep resting under the shade of a 
turtle-shell, which he had erected on sticks to protect 
him from the sun — almost verifying the statement of 
iElian, that in the seas of Ceylon there are tortoises so 
large that several persons may find ample shelter be- 
neath a single shell.” As a delicious article of food the 
flesh of the Turtle is well known. At first it was made 
use of by our navigators, who found it a healthy, agree- 
able, and nourishing food after their long sea-voyages, 
and an excellent remedy against the ravages of scurvy. 
It came afterwards, however, to be used at better tables, 
and, as is well known, is now and long has been an 
especial article of luxury in this country at the ban- 
quets of the wealthy. In Jamaica and elsewhere yire- 
seives have been established where turtle are kept, and 
from whence they are distributed to other countries as 
