. Cyclopedia of farm animals. Domestic animals; Animal products. TURTLES TURTLES 681 and this area is becoming more and more restricted as improved agriculture advances. It is only a question of time until the type entirely disappears. Literature. For references, see page 646. TURTLES AND TURTLE-FARMING. Figs. 680, 681. i By E. A. Andrews. Along the coasts of America, four kinds of ma- rine turtles lay their eggs in the sandy beaches, where they are left to develop by themselves, if such enemies as the bear and man do not discover them. While the flesh of the green turtle is most highly esteem
. Cyclopedia of farm animals. Domestic animals; Animal products. TURTLES TURTLES 681 and this area is becoming more and more restricted as improved agriculture advances. It is only a question of time until the type entirely disappears. Literature. For references, see page 646. TURTLES AND TURTLE-FARMING. Figs. 680, 681. i By E. A. Andrews. Along the coasts of America, four kinds of ma- rine turtles lay their eggs in the sandy beaches, where they are left to develop by themselves, if such enemies as the bear and man do not discover them. While the flesh of the green turtle is most highly esteemed, and the shell of the " hawk's bill" or tortoise-shell turtle is greatly valued, a third of these four, the loggerhead, is also used as food, so that much profit would come from an increase in the abundance of these marine turtles. How- ever, as they are wide wanderers, seeking food over large areas and coming to shore only to lay their eggs, there is no question of private turtle- farming for these large oceanic reptiles, although the government might well take steps to lessen the too rapid extermination of the race by dimin- ishing the destruction of eggs and young, just as has been done for equally pelagic fish. The green turtle feeds on marine grass, off the Florida coasts, in comparatively shallow water, but the females, after mating in May, migrate hun- dreds of miles to lay their eggs on the Bahama banks and small islands. The eggs are laid in batches of 130 to 180, and it is thought that each female may lay four batches in June, July and August, but no more for one or two years. The eggs require ten to twelve weeks to hatch, and so many are eaten by gulls and sharks that prob- ably only 2 to 3 per cent survive the first week out of the shell. Fresh-water and land turtles. Among the fresh-water and land turtles the problem is somewhat different, and, in time, a turtle-farming industry will arise. There are some fifty kinds of these land and fresh-water turtl
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