Fig. 85.–Three turned Turtles, a Seal, and Albatrosses, Laysan Islands, north-west of the Sandwich Islands. From a photograph belonging to the Hon. W. Rothschild.
The "turning" of turtles is a cruel and wanton operation, since frequently many more are turned over and left to perish than are taken away. Men lying in ambush watch the beast, or they approach the lonely sandy shore by boat, and rush the helpless creatures when these are surprised in sufficient numbers. It takes several men to lift a full-grown specimen. It is therefore necessary to secure them by turning them over with poles or by their flippers, lest they should crawl away. On board ship they are either put into tanks or tied with ropes on deck, covered with a moistened cloth; and occasionally a piece of bread, soaked in sea-water, is thrust into the parched mouth. In London they are kept in large tanks, often in considerable numbers, but since they take no food in captivity, or rather because it is difficult to supply them with the right sort, they are not kept long. After the head has been cut off, the body is suspended for a day or two, in order to drain it of the blood. It is not only the meat and the fat which are used for the making of the famous soup, but also the thick and dense layer of subcutaneous tissue which lines the inside of the shell.
Tennent describes a revolting spectacle exhibited in the markets of Jaffna, in Ceylon. The flesh of the turtles is sold piecemeal by the Tamil fishermen, while the animals are still alive. At certain seasons, says the same authority, the flesh of turtle on the south-west coast of Ceylon is usually avoided as poisonous, but some lamentable instances are recorded of neglect of this, and consequent sickness, followed by coma and death. In the Gulf of Manaar specimens are frequently found between four and five feet in length; and on one occasion, in riding along the seashore north of Putlam, he saw a man in charge of some sheep, resting under the shade of a turtle shell, which he had erected on sticks to protect him from the sun. In connexion with this curious sight, Tennent quotes Aelian's statements, copied by him from Megasthenes' Indica Frag. lix. 31, that in the Indian ocean turtles occur which measure fifteen ells, so that not a few people may find ample shelter beneath a single shell.
Ch. imbricata ("Hawksbill Turtle").–The number of shields covering the carapace is the same as in Ch. mydas, but they strongly imbricate, or overlap each other from before backwards, until the animal is very old, when the shields become juxtaposed.
Fig. 86.–Chelone imbricata ("Hawksbill Turtle"), young. × ½.
In young specimens, under one foot in length, each of the neural and costal shields is strongly keeled, the three rows of keels converging towards the posterior end of the shell. The neural series of keels is almost continuous, and remains longest, even in half-grown specimens. The twelve pairs of marginal shields form at first a strongly serrated sharp edge; the serrations disappear gradually on the front portion, but remain on the posterior half of the shell. The horny covers of the jaws form a hooked beak, with sharp but smooth or feebly denticulated margins. The fore- and hind-flippers have two claws. The young are pale brown above, blackish below; the shell of the adult is beautifully marbled with yellow on a rich dark-brown ground; the plastron is yellow. The shields and scales of the head and limbs are dark brown, with yellow margins. The top of the head is covered by a large unpaired frontal and a pair of prefrontal or interorbital shields. This Turtle does not reach the size of the green or edible kind; the largest shell on record is in the National Collection, and measures 85 cm. = 34 inches in length. They range over all the tropical and subtropical seas. They are apparently strictly carnivorous, living upon fish and molluscs, the shells of which they crunch. Although not eaten, they are much persecuted on account of their shells, the horny shields of which are the "tortoiseshell" of commerce. A large specimen yields up to 8 lbs. Few of the shields are, however, thick enough to be manufactured into the larger articles which art and fashion delight in, but if heated in oil, or boiled, they can be welded together under pressure, and be given any desired shape. In genuine articles of Oriental manufacture these welds can generally be detected, or their compound nature is indicated by the beautiful pattern, which is too regular in the imitations now common. Even the shavings and leavings can be welded and moulded into large pieces. The stripping of the shields has been described by Sir E. Tennent. "If taken from the animal after death and decomposition, the colour of the shell becomes clouded and milky, and hence the cruel expedient is resorted to of seizing the turtles as they repair to the shore to deposit their eggs, and suspending them over fires till heat makes the plates on the dorsal shields start from the bone of the carapace, after which the creature is permitted to escape to the water. At Celebes, where the finest tortoise-shell is exported to China, the natives kill the turtles by blows on the head, and immerse the shell in boiling water to detach the shields. Dry heat is only resorted to by the unskilful, who frequently destroy the tortoise-shell in the operation." The cruel process described above is resorted to "for economy's sake," the Singhalese believing that such maltreated turtles regenerate the shields, to be caught and shipped again. Since none of them are actually re-caught in the mutilated condition, this is looked upon as a proof of the correctness of the treatment. It is more likely that they die.
New shields can be reproduced only if the underlying Malpighian layer of cells (cf. Fig. 68, B, p. [323]) is not killed by the roasting. However, Dr. Charles Hose, with his long experience in Borneo, is positive that numerous individuals are there caught which have imperfectly mended shells, the shields of which do not imbricate, are thin, and almost worthless.
It is commonly believed that the same individuals return again and again to the same spot for laying. This is very likely the case. Tennent mentions that in the year 1826 a Hawksbill was taken near Hambangtotte, which bore a ring attached to one of its fins, that had been placed there by a Dutch officer thirty years before, with a view of establishing the fact of these recurring visits to the same beach. The same homing instinct has been observed in some females of the Green Turtle, which, having been brought from the Tortugas Keys to Key West off the south end of Florida, escaped, and were, a few days later, re-caught at the Tortugas. On the other hand, experiments made with turtles at Ascension are said to have had no result.
Thalassochelys, with five pairs of costal shields. The carapace is completely ossified in the adult, leaving no fontanelles between the ribs and the marginals.