Testudo marina Caouanna: The Loggerhead Turtle.
The Head of this Turtle is bigger in Proportion, and has a fiercer
Aspect than the other kinds, its Legs are also shorter, the upper
Shell is broader in the middle and narrower at the Hind-part than
others. They are the boldest, most voracious and foulest Feeders
of all the Turtle; their Flesh is rank, therefore they are little
fought after, which occasions them to he more numerous than any
of the other kinds.
They range the Ocean over, an Instance of which (amongst many that
I have known) hapened the 20th of April 1725. in the Latitude of
30 Degrees 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-lslands, either of which Places being the
nearest Land it could come from, or that they are known to frequent,
there being none on the North Continent of America, farther
North than Cape Florida. It being amphibeous, and yet at
so great a Distance from Land in breeding Time, makes it the more
remarkable. They feed mostly on Shell-Fish, the great Strength and
Hardness of their Beaks enabling them to break very large Shells,
particularly the Buccinum, mentioned above in p.134. Pieces
of which I have taken out of their Stomachs; and have seen Fractures
upon large Shells, which the Turtlers told me were caused by the
Bite of there Turtle.
Testudo aruata; The Trunk Turtle.
I Never saw one of these Turtle, they are not common, being but
rarely taken: I was told they grow to a very lame Size, of a narrow
Norm, but very deep, the upper Shell being more convex than in the
other kinds of Turtle. Their FIesh is rank, but affords a large
Quantity of Oil, which is all it is valued for.
In the Repository of the Royal Society is a Turtle preserved entire,
which I take to be of this Species.