The Hiflory ^ANIMALS. 113 
This fpecies is frequent in the American feas, and it’s fhell is that ufed in ornamen¬ 
tal works, under the name of Tortoife-thell; authors call it Caretta. It’s flelh is well 
tailed, but is coniiderably inferior to that of fome of the others. 
Teftudo unguibus palmarum duobus y plantarum 
unicis, %lyt green 
!The Teftudo , with two ungues on the fore feet 5 and jElSttle* 
one on the hinder . 
The Englifh name of this fpecies might be apt to lead the unexperienced into the 
error of fuppoiing the colour of the fhell, or of the whole animal, green; but it is a 
Weil Indian name given it, from the fat having a greeniih appearance at table : it 
grows to a vail fize j we had one lately dreifed at a tavern in London, of four- 
hundred and eighty pounds weight: the fhell is of a figure approaching to oval, 
lightly hollowed at the top, to give room for the motions of the neck; and dentated 
all round the fides, but flightly, and at confiderable diilances. The hinder extremity 
is obtufe $ the colour is a duiky brown, ihaded with a ilill darker, and the whole fur- 
face is divided into a number of irregular fpaces by oblique and angulated lines: the 
head is roundifhj the opening of the mouth not very large .5 the fore legs are of a con¬ 
fiderable length ; the hinder ones ihort and broad, and the colour of the whole a dis¬ 
agreeable dufky brown. ■ 
This fpecies is frequent about the American iflands, but it breeds only in fome few 
places : the flelh is finely flavoured, and efteemed the befi of that of any kind $ this is 
what we commonly in England mean by the word Turtle. 
Tejludo capite magno fubovato . %UVtlt 9 
The great oval-headed Tejludo . 0J CclOlIilllEt 
This is a fpecies eafily diftinguifhable at fight from the others: it grows to a very con¬ 
fiderable fize ; the fhell is of a more regularly oval figure than that of any of the others > 
it is often two feet and a half long, and two feet broad near the top, whence it gra¬ 
dually grows fmaller to the hinder extremity, where it terminates in an obtufe point ; 
it is of a dufky brown colour, variegated with a darker hue, and is divided into more 
regular fpaces than that of any other kind : the head of the animal is remarkably large, 
and it has a great fiercenefs in it’s afpedt: the legs are fhort and broad, and the whole 
animal is of a dufky brown colour ; this is the worfl tailed of all the kinds, and it’s fhell 
is of little value; whence it is fuffered to live more at peace than any of the others, 
and confequently is greatly more numerous. 
It is a native of the Eafl and Weft Indies, and is the greateft traveller of all the Tor- 
toife kind : it has been found at open fea, at vafl diftances from any land. 
The other fpecies are, 1. TheTeftudo arcuata, called the Trunk-turtle; and, by 
the French, Coffre. 2 The little land Teftudo. 3, The great, thick, finall- 
headed Teftudo. 
The Americans find fo good account in the taking of Turtle, that they have made 
themfelves very expert at it: they watch them from their nefts on fhore in moon-light 
nights, and, before they reach the fea, turn them on their backs, and leave them till 
morning : the creature can by no efforts recover it’s firft pofture, and confequently they 
are fure of finding as many as they have thus turned : at other times they hunt them 
in boats, with a peculiar kind offpear, fir iking them with it through the fhell, either 
as they lie on the fur face of the water, or underneath it. When they have once got 
fight of a Turtle, patience and attention feldom fail to make them fure of it: the crea¬ 
ture dives, as foon as it perceives itfelf purfued^ but, as it tnufl every now and then rife to 
the furface for breath, they by this means know where it is: when tired with flying 
from them, it generally plunges to the bottom at once, where, if the water be not too 
deep for the length of the handle of the fpear, they eafily ftrike it, Thefpear is of a 
very Ample form, it is no more than a peg of iron, two or three inches long, fattened to 
the end of a handle of ten or twelve feet in length, in the manner of the iron of the 
harpoon ufed in the whale-fifhery: there is a cord fattened to the iron, and, when the 
ftroke is given, the head feparates eafily from the handle j but, the cord remaining fattened 
to it, the creature is managed by it with great eafe, efpecially if it have been firft tired 
with the purfuit. 
Gg 
THE 
