

CATALOGUE 



OF 



SHIELD REPTILES, 



Sect. II. SHIELDED REPTILES (CATA- 

 PHRACTA). 



Body covered with square imbedded plates, generally 

 forming a dorsal and ventral shield. The bones of the 

 skull thick, united together into a hard mass, and including 

 the quadrate bones and pterygoid processes. The tongue 

 is short, affixed to the mouth, scarcely exsertible. The 

 lungs are enveloped by a thick peritoneum, which performs 

 the part and has the appearance of a diaphragm. The 

 vent is round or linear, plaited. The male organ and va- 

 gina are simple, the former having only a groove along its 

 upper edge. Oviparous : the egg covered with a hard 

 shell : the young, when hatched, having a large umbilical 

 slit, which soon disappears. 



Reptilia Cataphracta (Shielded Reptiles), Grai/, Syn. 



Rept. 2 (1831) ; Arm. Nat. Hist. i. 275 (1838) ; Cat. 



Tort. B.M. (1844). 

 Reptilia Loricata et SqCamata (part.). Gray, Ann. 



Phil. (182.5). 



Order III. CHELONIA (TORTOISES). 



The body enclosed in a case, formed of two shields 

 united by their margins, and leaving only the head, ueck, 

 limbs and tail free, which are covered with a scaly skin : 

 the upper shield or thorax formed of the ribs more or less 

 dilated on the sides, united together and adherent to the 

 dorsal vertebrae by a toothed suture, preventing any mo- 



tion ; they are surrounded by a series of bones forming the 

 edge of the shields : the lower shield or sternum is formed 

 of four pair and a central anterior bone. The jaws are 

 toothless, covered with a horny bill, rarely hid by fleshy 

 lips : the upper bill covers the lower Uke a box. Eyes 

 with distinct eyelids. The drum of the ear visible, nearly 

 superficial. The legs short, thick. Tail conical. The 

 vent is a circular hole. 



Chelonia (Chelonians), Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist. i. 275 



(1835) ; Cat. Tort. B.M. 

 Tortues on Cheloniens, Bum. ^ Bib. Erp. Ghi. ii. 1 



(1835). 

 Testudinata, Oppel, Reptilien, 1811. 



Bell, Zool. Jonrn. n. 513. 



Bona}). Saggio Anim. Vert. 5. 12 (1832). 



Fitz. Syst. Rept. 29 (1843). ■ 

 Chelonii, Latr. Rept. 



Gray, Ann. Philos. (1825) ; Syn. Rept. 3 (1831). 



Bonap. Saggio Anim. Vert. 5. 12 (1832). 



Eichwald, Zool. Sj)ec. iii. 194. 

 Chelonea, Fleming, Phil. Zool. ii. 268 (1822). 

 Sterrichrotes (Chelonii), Ritzen, Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. 



Cur. xiv. 269 (1828). 

 Les Cheloniens (Chelonii), Brongn. Bull. Soc. Philom. 

 XXXV. (1808). 



Cuv. R. A. ii. 6 ; ed. 2. ii. 5 ; Oss. Foss. v. 



Latr. Rept. 



Blainv. Bull. Soc. Philom. (1816). 



Geof^. Ann. Mus. xiv. 5. 



Wiegmann ^ Ruthe, Handb. Zool. 163. 

 Testudinata, Fitz. Syst. Rept. 2!) (1843). 

 Testudines (Hedraeoglossae), Wagler, Syst. 133 (1830). 

 FoRNiCATi, Haworth, Phil. Mag. (1823). 

 Chelonia, Gray, Cat. Rept. B.M. 3. 



