33 



CHELONIA CARETT A.— Litmxus. 



Plate IV. 



Characters. Head of great size; upper jaw nearly straight; lower jaw more 

 or less hooked; shell elongated, sub-cordiform, smooth, with a crescentic notch in 

 the posterior border; vertebral plates five; lateral plates ten, not imbricated; mar- 

 ginal twenty-five; two spines to each extremity. 



SrNONYMEs. Loggerhead Turtle, Catcsby, Carolina, &c., vol. li. p. 40, pi. xl. 

 Testiulo caretta, Linnseus, Syst. Nat., torn. i. p. 351. 

 Testudo caretta, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. Lin., torn. i. part iii. p. 1038. 

 La Caouana, LacepMe, Quad. Ovip., torn. i. p. 96. 

 Testudo caretta, Schoepff, Hist. Test., p. 67, tab. xvi. 

 Testudo caretta, Latreille, Hist. Nat. Rept., torn. i. p. 53. 

 Testudo caouana, Daudin, Hist. Nat. des Rept., torn. ii. p. 54, tab. xvi. fig. 2. 

 Testudo caretta, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. iii. part i. p. 85, pi. xxiii., xxiv., xxv. 

 Chelonia caouana, Schweiggei-, Prod. Arch. Kijnigsb., vol. i. p. 292, 418. 

 Caretta cephalo, Merrem, Versuch eines Syst. der Amphib., p. IS. 

 Chelonia caouana, IVagler, Natiirlich. Syst. der Amphib., p. 133. 

 Chelonia caouana, Gray, Synops. Kept., p. 53. 



Chelonia caouana, Dumeril et Bibron, Hist. Nat. des Rept, torn. ii. p. 552. 

 Loggerhead Turtle, Vulgo. 



Description. The shell is sub-cordiform, slightly concave in front and over the 

 shoulder, and with a deep crescentic notch behind. The anterior vertebral plate 

 is hexagonal, with its largest border in front, and slightly arched forwards, and is 

 most extensive in the transverse direction. The second and third plates are 

 hexagonal, elongated, much the most extensive in the longitudinal direction, with 

 Vol. II.— 5 



