TURTLE, the popular name of thosa chelonian reptiles. the family clieloniadw of some. which have a rather flat and fin-like paddles instead of legs, suited for swimming, and not for walkin7. The fore-limhs are much longer than the hind limbs. The toes are not all furnished with nails; in some species. there is only one on each foot, in others, there are two. Turtles are all marine, and although they lay their eggs on the beach. seldom visit the shore for any other purpose. They deposit their eggs in holes. which they spoor: in the sand with their hind-feet. The eggs are numerous, one hundred and fifty or two hundred being often deposited at a time, and the turtle lays several times a year. The young, soon after being hatched, make their way through the said which covers them, and immediately betake themselves to the water. The eggs are hatched by the heat of the sand alone, and the young receive no attention from their parents. Turtles crawl slowly and awkwardly on the shore; but their movements in water are comparatively quick. and even graceful. Some of the species feed entirely on grass-wrack and sea-weeds; which their powerful, hard, and sharp-edged jaws cut with .great ease; others prey on crustaceans, mollusks, and fishes. Their jaws are powerful enough to crush very large shells, and the carnivorous turtles are in general more rapid in their movements than the others. The flesh of those which subsist on animal food is musky and unpleasant; but that of the species whose food is vegetable is much esteemed. In many tropical countries, turtles, after being captured, are kept in enclosures to which the tide has access, to be killed when they are wanted. They are capable of subsisting long without food, and are imported alive from the West Indies into Britain, to supply the tables of the wealthy. In tropical countries, turtles are often very cheap. Their eggs are a much-esteeemed article of food in the countries where they are found, and are sought for by probing the sand with a light stiff cane iu the places known to be frequented by turtles. Turtles are easily taken when they come ashore for the purpose of laying their eggs, and one after another may be turned on its back—in which position it is helpless, and cannot make its escape—till a sufficient num ber is secured. They are also, however, taken in the sea, being cautiously approached by boats when resting, or apparently sleeping, at the surface, or by divers when descried at the bottom in their feeding-grounds. A. small harpoon is used, or a rope is thrown over the head of the turtle. Turtles are sometimes pursued by boats in shallow parts of
the sea until they are exhausted, the clearness of the water permi,tting them to be seen even when they dive; and when the boat gets near enough, a man leaps overboard, and seizes the turtle, clinging with both hands to the shell. It is said that at Mozambique a species of sucking-fish (eekineis) is used for catching turtles, a cord being attached to the fish, which is allowed to swim away in the sea, and is sure to fasten itself firmly to the first turtle it meets.
The most esteemed turtle of the West Indies is the GREEN TURTLE (chelonia mydax) which is the only kind imported into Britain for aldermanic and other feasts. The green turtle attains a large size, being sometimes six or seven feet in length, and weigh ing 700 or 800 lbs. The plates of its carapace do not overlap one another; the central ones are almost regular hexagons. The popular name is derived not so much from the external color, which is mostly a dark olive, passing into dingy white, as from that of the fat, so much prized by epicures.—Anotber excellent species of turtle is the EDIBLE' TURTLE (eitelonia airgata) of the East Indies, which is frequently four or five feet long. —The HAWEBILL TURTLE (caretta inibricatu), found in the warmer parts of the Atlantic ocean, in the Indian ocean, and in the Red sea, is particularly valuable, as yielding the best tortoise-shell (q.v.). It is one of those turtles which have the plates of the carapace imbricated, or overlapping one another like tiles. Its flesh, although not so much esteemed as that of the green turtle, is a good article of food; its eggs are also very good.—There are other turtles, having the head of a larger size, and the jaws curved toward one another at the extremity, of which one is the LOGGERHEAD TURTLE (=maw olivacna), a native of the warmer parts of the Atlantic, and a very fare visitant of the British seas. Others, again, have the carapace and plastron not hard, but leathery, and sometimes soft enough to yield to the pressure of the finger. One of these is the Com ACEOUS TURTLE (splatrgis eoriacea) of the Mediterranean and Atlantic, occasionally, but rarely, found even on the British shores. It attains a very large size, even greater than any of the species already described, but its flesh is coarse and unpleasant.
The French, encouraged by their success in pisciculture, have attempted to introduce the green turtle on the southern coasts of France. There has not yet been time to prexe the success of the experiment.