34 TESTUDINATA. CHELONIAD^. 



enumerated as marking the Family : but if, with 

 some zoologists, we treat the differences between 

 these animals as generic and not specific, re- 

 stricting the term Clielone to the Green Turtle 

 and its allies (C mydas, maculosa, ynarmoy^ata, 

 &c.), we may give the following (from Dumeril 

 and Bibron) as the distinctive characteristics of 

 this genus. The plates which compose the disk 

 of the carapace are thirteen, not overlapping ; the 

 muzzle is short and rounded ; the upper jaw has 

 a slight notch in front, and small dentelations on 

 the sides ; the horny case of the lower jaw is 

 formed of three pieces, and has its sides deeply 

 dentelated ; the first toe of each foot is furnished 

 with a nail. 



The Green Turtle {Chelone mydas, Linn.) is 

 of an olive or greenish-brown hue above, and 

 yellowish-white below. The carapace consists of 

 twenty -five marginal plates, surrounding a disk of 

 thirteen ; the medial plates of the latter form 

 almost perfect hexagons ; the whole shell is some- 

 what heart-shaped, being pointed at the posterior 

 extremity. Its length is sometimes above six 

 feet, and its weight six or seven hundred pounds. 

 Dampier mentions one that was captured in the 

 Bay of Campeachy, which was nearly six feet 

 wide, and four feet thick. A son of Captain 

 Roche, a boy of ten years old, went in the shell 

 as a boat, from the shore to his father's ship, 

 lying about a quarter of a mile distant. Pliny 

 speaks of the Chelonophagi, dwelling on the 

 shores of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, who 

 not only subsisted on Turtles, but converted their 

 enormous shells into roofs for their huts, and 

 boats for their little voyages ; and the inhabitants 



