This species is remarkable for having no horny plates, the bones of the carapace and plastron being covered with a strong leathery skin, smooth in the adult animal, but covered with tubercles in the young. Along the back run seven ridges, sharp, and slightly toothed in the full-grown Turtle, but bluntly tubercled in the young. The eye is very curious, as the lids are set vertically instead of horizontally, and when the creature opens and shuts its eyes, have a very singular effect. The jaws are very formidable, being sharply edged, deeply scooped with three rounded notches in the front of the upper jaw, so as to form two curved sharply pointed teeth, and the extremity of the lower jaw is strongly hooked.

The legs of the Leathery Turtle are very long, especially the two fore limbs, which, in a specimen measuring eight feet in total length, were nearly three feet long, and more than nine inches wide. The feet are not furnished with claws, but the toes have a little horny scale at their tips, which take the place of the claws. The general colour of this animal is dark brown, with pale yellow spots, but sometimes the skin is irregularly pied with black and white.

ANOTHER Well-known species of Turtle deserves a passing notice. This is the LOGGERHEAD TURTLE, or CAOUANE (Caouana caretta), sometimes called the RHINOCEROS TURTLE.

This fine species has a wide range of locality, being found in the most warm seas. is extremely powerful, fierce, and voracious, biting with great force, and cutting hard substances without much difficulty. According to Catesby, "the Loggerhead Turtles are the boldest and most voracious of all other Turtles. Their flesh is rank and little sought for, which occasions them to be more numerous than any other kind. They range the ocean over, an instance of which, among many others that I have known, happened the 20th of April, 1725, in latitude 30° north, when our boat was hoisted out, and a Loggerhead Turtle struck, as it was sleeping on the surface of the water.

This, by our reckoning, appeared to be midway between the Azores and the Bahama Islands, either of which places being the nearest land it could have come from, or that

they are known to frequent, there being none on the north continent of America farther north than Florida. It being amphibious, and yet at so great a distance from land in the breeding-time, makes it the more remarkable. They feed mostly on shell-fish, the great strength of their beaks enabling them to break very large shells." Several other species belong to the same genus.

In general appearance this species is not unlike the common Green Turtle, which will presently be described, but the shell is broader, deeper coloured, and has two more plates on the back. The plates along the upper part of the back are six-sided, rather square, and keeled. There are two claws on each foot.

THE well-known CARET, or HAWKSBILL TURTLE, so called from the formation of the mouth, is a native of the warm American and Indian seas, and is common in many of the islands of those oceans. One or two specimens have been taken on our coasts.

The Hawskbill Turtle is the animal which furnishes the valuable "tortoiseshell" of commerce, and is therefore a creature of great importance. The scales of the back are thirteen in number, and as they overlap each other for about one-third of their length, they are larger than in any other species where the edges only meet. In this species, too, the scales are thicker, stronger, and more beautifully clouded than in any other Turtle. The removal of the plates is a very cruel process, the poor reptiles being exposed to a strong heat which causes the plates to come easily off the back. In many cases the natives are very rough in their mode of conducting this process, and get the plates away by lighting a fire on the back of the animal. This mode of management, however, is injurious to the quality of the tortoiseshell. After the plates have been removed, the Turtle is permitted to go free, as its flesh is not eaten, and after a time it is furnished with a second set of plates. These, however, are of inferior quality and not so thick as the first set.

When first removed, they are rather crumpled, dirty, opaque, brittle, and quite useless for the purposes of manufacture, and have to undergo certain processes in order that these defects may be corrected. Boiling water and steam are the two principal agents in this part of the manufacture, the plates being boiled and steamed until they are soft and

clean, and then pressed between wooden blocks until they are flat. The tortoiseshell possesses the valuable property of uniting together perfectly, if two pieces are thoroughly softened, heated, and then subjected to the action of a powerful press. By this mode of treatment, the tortoiseshell can be formed into pieces of any size or thickness, and can even be forced into moulds, retaining, when cold, a perfect impression of the mould. Even the chippings and scrapings of this valuable substance are collected, and being heated and pressed, are formed into solid cakes fit for the purposes of manufacture.

The uses to which this costly and beautiful substance are put, are innumerable. The most familiar form in which the tortoiseshell is presented to us is the coinb, but it is also employed for knife-handles, boxes, and many other articles of ornament or use.

This species is not nearly so large as the green Turtle, and its flesh is not used for food. The eggs, however, are thought to be a great delicacy. It is remarkable that when these eggs are boiled, the albumen, or "white" as it is popularly called, does not become firm. The external membrane is white, flexible, and the eggs are nearly spherical in their form. Their number is very great, and the animal usually lays them in sets at intervals of about three weeks.

The young are generally hatched in about three weeks after the eggs are laid in the sand, the hot rays of the sun being the only means by which they attain their development. When first excluded from the shell, the young Turtles are very small and soft, not obtaining their hard scaly covering until they have reached a more advanced age. Numberless animals, fish, and birds feed on these little helpless creatures, and multitudes of them are snapped up before they have breathed for more than a few minutes. The rudiments of the scales are perceptible upon the backs of these little creatures, but the only hard portion is the little spot in the centre of each plate, which is technically called the areola, the layers of tortoiseshell being added by degrees from the edges of the plates. Many birds are always hovering about the islands where Turtles lay their eggs, and as soon as the little things make their appearance from the sand and hurry instinctively towards the sea, they are seized by the many foes that are watching for their prey. Even when they reach the water, their perils are not at an end, for there are marine as well as aerial and terrestrial foes, and as many fall victims in the water as on land. So terrible is the destruction among these reptiles in their early days of life, that were it not for the great number of eggs laid, they would soon be extirpated from the earth.

Three specimens of the Hawksbill Turtle have been found on our shores, and one of them, which was taken alive in 1774, was conveyed ashore and placed in a fish-pond, where it lived until winter. This specimen was caught in the Severn.

The shell of the Hawksbill Turtle is rather flat, and heart-shaped. When young, the centre of each plate is rather pointed, but in the adult animal the points are worn away and never restored. The plates surrounding the edges of the shell are arranged so as to form strong teeth pointing towards the tail. In the younger specimens, there are two keels running the length of the plastron, but in the older individuals these are worn away ike the projections on the back. The jaws are strongly hooked at their tips, and the under jaw shuts within the upper. The tail is very short. The colour of this species is yellow richly marbled with deep brown above. The under parts are yellowish white, splashed with black on the areola in the half-grown and younger individuals, and the head is brown, the plates being often edged with yellow.

THE best known of all the Turtles is the celebrated GREEN TURTLE, so called from the green colour of its fat.

This useful animal is found in the seas and on the shores of both continents, and is most plentiful about the Island of Ascension and the Antilles, where it is subject to incessant persecution for the sake of its flesh. The shell of this reptile is of very little use, and of small value, but the flesh is remarkably rich and well-flavoured, and the green fat has long enjoyed a world-wide and fully deserved reputation.

In Europe the flesh of the Green Turtle is little but an object of luxury, attainable only at great cost and dressed with sundry accompaniments that increase rather than diminish its natural richness. But in many instances, more especially on board ship,

when the sailors have been forced to eat salt provisions until the system becomes deteriorated, and the fearful scourge of scurvy is impending over crew and officers, the Turtle becomes an absolute necessity, and is the means of saving many a noble vessel from destruction, by giving the crew a healthful change of diet, and purifying the blood from the baneful effects of a course of salted provisions.

Landsmen have little notion of the real texture and flavour of "salt junk," their ideas being generally confined to the delicately corned and pinky beef or pork that is served up to table, with the accompaniments of sundry fresh and well-dressed vegetables. Whereas, salt junk is something like rough mahogany in look and hardness, and salted to such a degree as almost to blister the tongue of a landsman. It may easily be imagined how any one who has been condemned to a course of this diet for a lengthened time would welcome fresh meat of any kind whatever, and we need not wonder at the extraordinary relish with which sailors will eat sharks, sea-birds, and various other strangely flavoured creatures.

Even in such favoured countries as England, the flesh and fat of the Turtle are valuable in a medicinal point of view, and will supply in a more agreeable, though more costly manner, the various remedies for consumptive tendencies, decline, and similar diseases, of which cod-liver oil is the most familiar and one of the most nauseous examples.

Formerly, before steam power was applied to vessels, the Turtle was extremely scarce and very expensive, but it can now be obtained on much more reasonable terms. Many vessels are now in the habit of bringing over Turtles as part of their cargo, and it is found that these valuable reptiles are easily managed when on board, requiring hardly any attention. The following short account of some captive Turtles has been kindly presented to me by a partaker of their voyage and their flesh.

"The Island of Ascension is a great resort of Turtle, which are there captured and retained prisoners in some large ponds from which they are occasionally transferred to H.M. ships for 'rations' for the crew. These Turtle may be seen in the ponds, lazily moving along, one above another, sometimes three or four deep They occasionally come

to the surface to take breath, and will splash about at times quite merrily, as though ignorant that their destiny tended towards conversion into soup and cutlets. At the best, however, they are lethargic, awkward creatures.

About half a dozen fine Turtle were conveyed on board our ship during my stay at the Island of Ascension; they were unwieldy monsters, measuring rather more than four feet six inches in length, and about three feet in breadth. They were allowed to lie either in the boats, or on the after-part of the poop, and seldom disturbed themselves unless the vessel gave an extra roll, or they were stirred up by a pail of water being thrown over them or a wet swab rubbed over their hooked beaks.

Their tenacity of life was remarkable; they remained on board ship during upwards of three weeks without any food, and their only refresher was a cold bath, derived from the before-mentioned pail of water, which they usually received with a dreamy lengthy sort of hiss. Even after their three weeks' starvation, they died very hard. One, whose throat was cut in the morning, and from whose body numerous eggs had been extracted, was giving an occasional flap with her fins late in the afternoon; the fact of her throat having been cut and her body otherwise mutilated appeared merely to produce the effect of ultimately damaging her constitution, and I have grave doubts whether the fact of her ceasing to move was not as much due to the destruction of the various membranes as to the extinction of her reptilian life."

As these animals are large and very powerful, it is not a very easy task to secure and bring them on board. The usual plan is to intercept them as they are traversing the sands, and to turn them over on their backs, where they lie until they can be removed. Many of the tortoise tribe can recover their position when thus overturned, but the Green Turtle is quite unable to restore itself to its proper attitude, and lies helplessly sprawling until it is lifted into the boat and taken on board. In many cases the creature is so enormously heavy that the united strength of the pursuers is inadequate to the task, and they are consequently forced to employ levers and so to tilt it over.

Sometimes the Turtle is fairly chased in the water and struck with a curious kind of harpoon, consisting of an iron head about ten inches in length, and a staff nearly twelve feet long. The head is only loosely slipped into a socket on the staff, and the two are connected with a cord. Two men generally unite in this chase, one paddling the canoe and the other wielding the harpoon. They start towards the most likely spots, and look carefully at the bottom of the sea, where it is about six or ten feet in depth, to see whether the expected prey is lying at its ease and does not perceive them.

Sometimes they are forced to give chase to a Turtle on the surface, and sometimes the individual on which they had fixed, takes the alarm, and swims away. In either case they continually pursue the single swimming reptile, until it is fatigued with constant irritation, and sinks to the bottom to rest. No sooner has the Turtle assumed this position than the harpooner lowers his weapon into the water, takes an accurate aim, and then drives the steel spike deep into the shell. Off dashes the Turtle, carrying with it the harpoon. Were it not for the peculiar construction of the harpoon, the weapon would soon be shaken off, and the Turtle escape, but as the shaft slips readily off the head, there is no leverage and the steel head remains fixed, towing after it the long wooden shaft, which soon tires out the poor victim. When thoroughly fatigued, it is drawn to the surface, a rope put round it, and either taken into the boat or hauled ashore.

The food of this Turtle consists of vegetable substances, mostly algae, which is found in great abundance in those warm climates. This animal grows to a very great size, as may be imagined from the fact that it often requires the united aid of three men to turn it over. A very pure limpid oil is obtained from these species, useful for burning in lamps and other similar purposes. A fat full-grown specimen will sometimes furnish thirty pints of this substance.

The eggs of the Turtle are thought as great delicacies as its flesh, and it is rather a remarkable fact, that although the flesh of the hawksbill Turtle is distasteful to all palates and hurtful to many constitutions, the eggs are both agreeable in flavour and perfectly harmless. It is while the female Turtle is visiting shore for the purpose of depositing her eggs that she is usually captured, as these sea-loving reptiles care little for