Marine Tortoises.- 
■REPTILES. Crocodiles. 
78 
of the animal — the Hawk’s-bill — is derived. The 
edges of their jaws are entire and without teeth or 
sense. The Hawk’s-hill Turtle is a native of the 
Indian ocean and the American seas. It is taken at 
Ceylon, Amboyna, the coast of New Guinea, and 
North Australia, the Seychelles, the coast of Cuba, 
and other West Indian islands, the Eed Sea, &c. ; 
and individuals have even strayed as far north as the 
coast of Great Britain. As we have said before, how- 
ever, it is the substance known by the name of Tor- 
toise-shell, which is the produce of this animal, that 
makes the Hawk’s-bill valuable. Other species have 
the same kind of plates that cover the carapace ; but 
in no other are these plates sufficiently thick to be of 
any value in the arts. Tortoise-shell is not considered 
of the best quality unless the animal has reached to a 
certain size, weighing about one hundred and sixty 
pounds ; before that state it is too thin. The quantity 
obtained from a single individual varies much. It is 
stated by some authors that eight pounds may be 
gained from a large turtle. Mr. Holbrook says that 
fifteen pounds is the largest quantity that is ever 
obtained, but that only from animals of the largest 
size. M'Culloch, in his “ Dictionary of Commerce,” 
says that the best tortoise-shell is that of the Indian 
archipelago ; and that the finest of that quarter is 
obtained from the Spice Islands and New Guinea. 
Of the second group of Marine tortoises, or those 
which have the carapace and the external parts of 
their body covered with a leathery skin, only one 
species is at present known. 
THE CORIACEOUS TURTLE, or Luth, as the French | 
authors call it {Sphargis coriacea), is undoubtedly the 
largest of all the family, individuals having been occa- 
sionally found weighing twelve hundred pounds, and 
measuring eight feet in length. Though not a common 
species, it seems to have a wide range, as specimens 
have been taken in the Mediterranean ; in the Atlantic, 
as in Chesapeake Bay on the coast of North America, 
and the Tortugas or Turtle islands of Florida ; at the 
Cape of Good Hope ; on the coast of Chili ; and in 
Japan, where it is known by the name of Jalafa. 
It has also been occasionally taken off the coasts of 
France and England. Borlase, in his “ Histoiy of 
Cornwall,” tells us that two individuals of a large size 
were caught off that coast in the mackerel nets, in the 
summer of 1756; and Pennant informs us of another 
specimen having been caught on the coast of Dorset- 
shire, and which is now in the British Museum. In 
Augmst, 1729, a specimen was captured off the mouth 
of the Loire, about thirteen leagues from Nantes, which 
was upwards of seven feet long. 
The carapace of this species of turtle is somewhat 
heart-shaped, narrow, and pointed behind, and is 
marked on the back with seven longitudinal keels. 
Tire breastplate is large, very full in front, and perfectly 
flat, without any prominence or tubercle whatever. 
The head is very large, and the jaws of great strength 
and very sharp on their edges. The upper one has 
three remarkable notches, one in the centre which is 
angular, and one on each side at a short distance from 
the former, which are rounded. The lower jaw is very 
acute at the point, and somewhat hooked, coiTespond- 
ing with the central notch of the upper. Tlie neck is 
very short, very thick, and covered with a coriaceous 
skin. The fore legs are large and well developed — 
twice the length of the hinder. Both are covered with 
a coriaceous skin. The tail is short, acute, and scarcely 
extends beyond the carapace. The whole surface of 
the animal is covered with a smooth, leathery skin, 
quite destitute of horny plates or scales. It is of a 
very dark-brown colour, with the exception of the 
ridges or keels on the back, which are tinged in differ- 
ent places with obscure dirty white. Mr. Audubon 
states that the Coriaceous Turtle, in resorting to tlie 
Tortugas or Turtle islands of Florida for the purpose of 
j depositing its eggs, is later than the other species in 
arriving there. The average number of eggs laid by 
it, he says, may be three hundred and fifty, in two sets. 
It appears also to be less cautious than the Green 
Turtle or Hawk’s-bill in choosing the places for this 
important operation. Its food consists of mollusca, 
fish, Crustacea, sea-urchins, and various marine plants. 
Pennant says that it becomes extremely fat, but that 
the flesh is coarse and bad. The ancient Greeks, it is 
said, were well acquainted with this species of marine 
tortoise ; and it has been often confidently asserted, 
though we think without sufficient proof, that it was 
from the shell of the Coriaceous Turtle that the first 
lyre was fabricated. 
Order TI. — CKOCODILES AND ALLIOATOES (Emydosauria).* 
Of all the families of which the class of reptiles is 
composed, that of the Crocodiles contains the bulkiest 
and strongest species. In general appearance thej^ 
resemble gigantic lizards, but they differ from the 
order Suuria, or Saurian repffiles to w'hich the lizards 
belong, in having the body covered with square, keeled, 
* From tlie Greek words, emits tortoise, and sauros 
[ffoiv^cs] lizard. 
bony plates, imbedded in the skin, and placed in longi- 
tudinal lines ; in the solidity and formation of their 
skull ; and in the vent being longitudinal. In size 
they vary from ten or twelve feet to fifteen or twent)’’, 
and some even attain the length, it is said, of twenty-five 
or thirty. Distinguished as they are by their great 
magnitude, they have also the character of great fero- 
city. “ Inhabiting the margins of the mighty streams 
of tropical climates, they are the terror of all who 
