Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 March 1878 — Value of Reptiles. [ARTICLE]

Value of Reptiles.

The class of reptiles is generally regarded as useless, if not noxious to fnankind; yet, in reality, it affords many and varied products which serve as human food, or as important substances in the arts and manufactures. The first of the reptiles to be mentioned in this light are the Chelonians, including the turtles and tortoises, whose flesh is everywhere esteemed as an article of diet, and whose eggs are sought both for eating and for the oil that they afford. Edible species of the tortoise and the turtle abound in America, and are largely consumed at home and exported to foreign countries. A manufactory at Kffy West annually puts up 200,000 pounds of turtle-meat for exportation, and employs ten vea. seis and sixty men in coQecting the rep tiles. Large establishments for can ning the meat, and preparing for mar ket the fat, calipee and gelatinous por tion of the fins of the turtle, exist in Jamaica. In 1874 the export from Jamaica of these products amounted to 5,484 pounds. The turtles consumed at this point are brought from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, from Trinidad, Vera Cruz, Honduras and the ■Tortugas. The turtle is an important article of subsistence to the inhabitants in the vicinity of the Amazons; and Mr. Bates, in his interesting notes of “ A Naturalist on the Amazons,” devotes a good deal of space to an account of the methods employed in capturing the animal and its eggs. The great fresh-water turtle attains an immense.size, and its flesh is tender and palatable. The reptiles are habitually kept by the Indians in little ponds, as a resource in seasons of dearth. breeding-places of the turtle afford a busy spectacle at the time when it comes up out of the water to lay its eggs in the sand. The natives* assemble from far and near, and encamp near the ground for the sake of convenience in Harvesting the eggs and preparing the oil. ■ The destruction of turtle-eggs every year is, according to Mr Bates, enormous. “At)east 6,000 jars, holding each three gallons of the oil, are exported annually from the Upper Amazons and the Madeira to Para, where it is used for lighting, frying fish and other purposes. It may be fairly estimated that 2,000 more jarfuls are consumed by the inhabitants of the villages on" the river. Now, it takes at least twelve baskets of eggs, or about 6,000, by the wasteful process followed, to make one jar of oil. The total number es eggs annually destroyed amounts, therefore, to 48,000,000. As each turtle lays about 120, it follows that the yearly offspring of 400,000 turtles is thus annihilated.” Tortoise-shell is another valuable product derived from the Chelonians, The finest variety is produced by the hawk’s-bill turtle. Twenty-five tons of this material are annually worked up in Great Britain. ‘ i The flesh and the eggs of the alligator find the crocodile are. eaten by the natives in many parts of the world; while their skins, are tanned and converted into leather for boots and shoes, horse-trappings, etc.; their teeth are carved into ornamental objects; the oil extracted from the fat is of considerablo value in the arts; and a musk used | in perfumery is obtained from certain species. The flesh of the iguana is highly esteemed in South America, and is cooked in various ways. The eggs, which are very glutipous, are ftjso regarded gs

a delicacy. Humboldt states that in intertroufad South America, all lizards which inhabit dry places are much prized for the table. , The most highly civilised races regard the hindquarters of the frog as an elegant dainty, but snakes are by universal consent considered unfit for food. Still the flesh of all land-ser-pents is said to be white, tender and well-flavored; while an excellent leather is manufactured from the skins of the anaconda and other large species.— Chicago Tribune.