Marine Tortoises. EEPTILES. The Hawk’s-bill. 77 
which are so constructed as to he filled at every flood 
tide. Here they are kept till taken to market or sold. 
In the South Seas, skilful and practised divers take 
advantage of the moment when they find these turtles 
asleep on the surface of the ocean ; they dexterously 
swim right under them, so that on coming up they 
may seize hold of them and retain them there till both 
are hauled on board the boat. Mr. Darwin mentions 
the same process at the Keeling Islands, and thus 
describes the capture of these animals : — “ The wafer 
was so clear and shallow, that although at first a turtle 
quickly dives out of sight, yet in a canoe or boat under 
sail, the pursuers, after no very long chase, come up 
to it. A man standing ready in the bow at this 
moment dashes through the water upon the turtle’s 
back; then clinging with both hands by the shell of 
its neck, he is carried away till the animal becomes 
exhausted and is secured. It was quite an interest- 
ing chase to see the two boats thus doubling about, 
and the men dashing head foremost into the water 
trying to seize their prey.” These animals are also 
taken by means of harpoons. In the open sea, when 
they come to the surface to breathe or to sleep, thej^ 
offer a fair mark to the fisherman. The point of this 
instrument is sharp and arrow-shaped, and to the 
extremity is attached a ring to which a long cord is 
fastened. The animal when wounded dives and carries 
with it the harpoon and cord, but is soon hauled up 
and dragged alongside the boat. At the Bahama 
islands the natives are, according to Catesby, very 
dexterous in taking these animals by means of an 
instrument called a peg • and Holbrook tells us that 
the very same instrument is used in the Tortuga 
islands at the present day. He quotes Audubon, who 
says that he saw a man who with his peg had been 
known to secure eight hundred grown turtles in one 
year ! But the most singular method used for catch- 
ing turtle is one practised in the Indian and China 
seas, and on the coast of Mozambique. This consists 
in the use of the sucking-fish {Echeneis remora), which, 
as Dumeril and Bibron say, are “ taught this manoeuvre, 
like our hunting dogs, and are called in consequence, 
hunting -fish." The fact was known to Columbus, was 
verified by Cemmerson many years afterwards, and 
has since more recently been confirmed by Mr. Salt. 
The sucking-fish is thus employed : The fishermen 
have in their boats buckets which contain several of 
these animals, with a ring through their tails, to which 
a long slender cord is attached. As soon as they 
perceive at a distance, several turtles asleep on the 
surface, but which they know a slight noise might 
awaken, they throw one of the sucking-fishes overboard, 
giving it a long play of rope. As soon as the fish sees 
the turtle floating, it approaches it, darts upon it, and 
fastens itself by its sucker to the under surface of its 
carapace. To this it adheres with such force, that in 
withdrawing the rope, both fish and turtle are hauled 
in together. Mr. Salt, when in the Mozambique, had 
a specimen of a sucking-fish given to him as a present. 
“ All the Portuguese gentlemen whom I conversed 
with,” he says, “ on this subject, agree in assuring me 
that fish of this kind were employed on the coast in 
catching turtle.” 
THE CAREY ( Chelonia virgata) forms our illustra- 
tion of this family — see Plate 6, fig. 3. This turtle 
has a great range of habitat, as it is a native of the 
coasts of South America, the Cape of Good Hope, and 
the Indian Ocean. It has also been found off Tene- 
rilfe, at New York, and in the Red Sea. The shell of 
the Carey is about two feet nine inches in length, and 
the carapace is proportionally shorter than that of any 
other species of the family. It is truncated, as it 
were, in front, forms an obtuse angle behind, and is 
very much arched on the sides. The colour of the 
carapace, head, and fins, is a deep chestnut, rayed 
with brown mixed with yellow ; and the breastplate is 
gamboge or greenish-yellow. 
THE GREEN TURTLE [Chelonia viridis) is the spe- 
cies which excels all the others in the delicacy and 
excellent flavour of its flesh. It is the Turtle par 
excellence, so well knowm in this country to all “ bons 
vivants.” What would the Lord Mayor’s dinners at 
the Mansion-house of London be without the Turtle ! 
The Green Turtle surpasses all the other species 
(except the Coriaceous Turtle) in size and weight. 
The ordinary length of adult specimens may be about 
four feet ; but individuals not unfrequently occur which 
measure six or seven feet in length, and weigh upwards 
of eight hundred pounds. Le Maine, in his “ Voyage 
to the Canary Islands,” informs us, that near Cape 
Blanco turtles are found of the enormous size of fifteen 
feet in circumference, and that the flesh of one of them 
would be a sufficient meal for thirty men ! 
The carapace is oval, somewhat heart-shaped, and 
slightly convex. The head is rounded, and, compara- 
tively speaking, rather smaller than in most other 
marine tortoises. The lower jaw is strongly toothed 
and hooked in front, and the upper jaw is notched in 
front and serrated on the si<les. 
The Green Turtle is very common upon low, sandy 
coasts in both continents, but principally within the 
torrid zone. Its chief food consists of marine plants, 
and more especially the Zostera marina, which in 
consequence is known by the name of “ Turtle-grass.” 
According to Mr. Audubon, it cuts this near the 
roots, in order to procure the most tender and succu- 
lent parts, which alone are eaten, while the rest of the 
plant floats to the surface and collects there in large 
fields. This, when seen, is a sure indication that the 
feeding ground of the Green Turtle is near. 
THE HAWK’S-BILL TURTLE or Caret [Caretta 
imhricata). — If the Green Turtle excels all others as 
an article of food, the Hawk’s-bill Turtle is the most 
valuable as producing a substance of great importance 
in the arts and manufactures. It is smaller than the 
Green Turtle, for it is rare to find one from three hun- 
dred to four hundred pounds weight. The shell is 
depressed, oval, or somewhat heart-shaped, and covered 
with plates, which are laid one above the other like 
the tiles of a house — hence its specific name imhricata, 
or imbricated. The breastplate is large, full and 
entire in front and behind, but hollow and depressed 
in the centre. The head is oval, elongate, and com- 
pressed at the sides. The upper jaw is greatly pro- 
longed, and hooked in front like the beak of a hawk, 
from which circumstance the common English name 
