CATALOGUE OF SHIELD REPTILES. 



75 



Chelonia viriiata, Guer. Icon. t. 1. f. 4. 



Dicm. ^- Bib. Eip. Gen. ii. 541 (not Wagler) ; Cat. 

 Mcih. R. 24. 



Sa(/ra, Cuba Rept. 26. t. 3. 

 Ch. INIidas D, Gray, Syn. 52. 

 " Cb. fasciata, Cuvier" Schlegel, F. Japon. 26. 



Schoepff. Test. t. 16 B. 



Bruce, Voy. t. 42. 

 Chelonia maculosa, Citv. R. A. ii. 13. 



Dum. S,' Bib. Erp. Gen. ii. 544 ; Cat. Meth. R. 24. 

 C. lacrymata, Cuv. R. A. ii. 13. 

 C. Midas, var. ft, Gray, Syn. Rept. 32. 

 C. marmorata. Bum. ^- Bib. Erp. Gen. ii. 546. t. 23. f. 1 ; 

 Cat. Meth. R. 24. 



Shaw, Zool. ii. 13. t. 22, var. 



Hub. Indian Seas ; Cape of Good Hope ; New Guinea. 



/. Half-grown (stuffed). Wants some plates. Dr. Man- 

 tell's Collection. 



Osteology : — 



a. Young (upper shield only) . Vertebral shields broader 



than long. Atlantic Ocean. Presented bv W. Eling, 

 Esq. 



b. Adult (stuffed). Vertebral shield longer than broad. 



South America. 



c. Half-grown (upper shield only). Vertebral shields ra- 



ther longer than broad. South America ? 



d. Half-grown (upper shield). Vertebral shield rather 



broader than long. 



e. Half-grown (upper shield). Vertebral shield as broad 



as long. From Haslar Hospital. 



h. Adult. Upper shield very dark-coloured. 

 g. Half-grown skeleton. 



Young ? Black or greenish-olive ; chin, under side, broad 

 edge of shell and fin, and the base of the hinder fin, 

 white. 



a. Very young (stuffed). Margin of the shell and fin 

 white. China. Presented by J. E,. Reeves, Esq. 



h. Very young (in spirits). Neck whitish. 



c, d, e. Very young (in spirits). 



f, g, h. Very young (in spirits). 



»'. Very young (stuffed). From the Zoological Society. 



" Young. Head, shell and fins greenish-black ; margin 

 of the shell and fins and sternum white. 



" Adult. Head and fins chestnut, scales edged with yel- 

 low. Shell greenish-yellow, with chestnut rays and spots. 

 Sternum gamboge or greenish-yellow. 



"This species, the 'Pinyu' of the Malays of Pinang, is 



at all seasons plentifully taken in the fishing stakes in the 

 Straits of Malacca, and is the ' Green Turtle ' of the Euro- 

 pean inhabitants of our Malayan settlement and of the sea- 

 ports of India. In size it equals Chelonia Midas, Schweig. 

 (of the Atlantic), which it rivals in flavour. About De- 

 cember and January is the season when the female deposits 

 her eggs in the sandy beach of some sequestered island, 

 and then the fishermen watch during the moonlight nights 

 to ' turn turtles.' The eggs are of a spherical shape, 

 about one inch in diameter, covered with a soft hemitrans- 

 parent membrane of a pale yellowish colour. The expert 

 eye of the fisherman baffles the pains with which the turtle 

 conceals her eggs, and prodigious numbers are disinterred. 

 They are very rich-flavoured, like marrow, and will keep 

 for weeks although exposed to the air." — Cantor. 



" The breadth of the fronto-nasal shield in Chelonia vir- 

 gata is only one-third of the length, whereas in Chelonia 

 Midas it is one-half, and these proportions appear to be 

 constant in all ages of the two species. The very young 

 of both greatly resemble each other in colour and shape. 

 Six liy-ing young were all of the following dimensions : — 

 Head ^ ; neck j ; shell 2 ; tail \ of an inch ; and they pre- 

 sented the following peculiarities : — 



" The shell cordiforin, the length exceeding the breadth 

 by one-eighth ; the second vertebral shield much broader 

 than the first, and altogether the largest of the series ; the 

 second costal shield larger than the third ; the breadth of 

 the fronto-nasal shield one-third of the length. Each fin 

 with a single claw." — Cantor. 



"This Turtle (^Chelonia virc/ata) is found all round the 

 island (Ceylon), and is very numerous in the Trincomalie 

 Harbour for several months in the year ; a good-sized one 

 can be bought for 6d., a very large one for \s. 6d. to 2s. The 

 flesh of this Turtle is not far behind in flavour that of the 

 well-known Green Turtle (Chelonia Mydas), so famous for 

 making the T\irtle soup. The female lays from 100 to 200 

 eggs of a globular shape, with a soft semitransparent cal- 

 careous shell, which are much prized as articles of food by 

 natives and Europeans. A native will consume as many as 

 20 or 30 eggs at one meal, and we have seen Europeans eat 

 a dozen for breakfast." — Kelaart, Reptiles of Ceylon, 181. 



ff The vertebral bones behind the last rib narrow, linear 

 or vase-shaped, attenuated behind. 



Chelonia §**, Grai/, Cat. Tort. B.M. 54. 

 Chelonia, Fit:. Sy'st. Rept. 30. 



2. Chelonia viridis. The Green Turtle. 

 Shell subrotundiform, rather elongate, olive-green, when 



M 2 



