HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 485 



Suborder ATHECJ./' 



1871. Athecas Cope, Proc. Am. A.ssoc. Adv. Sci., XIX, p. 235. 



1880. Dermatochdijidx Seeley, Quart. Joiirn. Geol. Soc, XXXVI, p. 412. 



1889. Athfcata Lydekkeu, Cat. Foss. Kept. Brit. Mus., Ill (p. 223). 



1890. Athcca Str.\uch, Mem. Acad. St. Petersbourg, (7) XXXVIII, No. 2, p. 38. 



1891. Antheae Okai).\, Cat. Verl. Japan, p. 71 (misprint). 



Family DERMOCHELIDiE. 



Limbs paddle-sliaped, clawless; shell with five longitudinal dorsal 

 keels and covered witli a leathery skin. 



The leather-back turtles mhabit the oceans between the Tro]Hcs, 

 occasionally straying to temperate coasts. When full grown they 

 reach an enormous size. Only one genus is known. 



Genus DERMOCHELYS '' Blainville. 



1816. Dermochdys Blainville, Bull. Sor. Philom. Paris, ISIG. p. 119 (type, T. 



conacca). 

 1820. Sphargis Merrem, Syst. Amphib., p. 19 (same type). 

 1822. Coriudo Fleming, Philos. Zool., II (p. 271) (same type). 

 1828. Scytina Wagler, Isis, 1828, p. 861 (substitute for Sphargis). 

 1830. Dermatochelys Wagler, Nat. Syst. Amphib., p. 133 (emendation). 

 1832. Chelyra Rafinesque, Atlantic Journ., I, No, 2, p. 64 (type, T. coriacea). 



DERMOCHELYS SCHLEGELII <■ (Garman). 



1835. Sphargis merctirialis Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japon., Rept., pp. 

 10 (part), 76, 139, pi. i; pi. ii, figs. 3-5; pi. iii (Japan) (not of Merrem).^ 

 Okada, Cat. Vert. Japan, 1891, p. 71 (Tango). 



1850. Sphargis coriacea Bleeker Natuurk. Tijds. Nederland. Indie, XV, (p. 260), 

 Padang, Sumatra (not of Linnaeus). — Tickel, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 

 Nat. Hist., 1862, No. IV, p. 367, pi. — (Tenasserim).— McCoy, Nat. Hist. 

 Victoria, II, Dec. xi, 1885, p. 1, pi. ci (Portland, Australia). — Derma- 

 tochelys c. Guenther, Rept. Brit. India, 1864, p. 55. — Derrnochelys c. Bou- 

 lenger, Cat. Chel. Brit. Mus., 1889, p. 10 (part); Fauna Brit. India, Rept. 

 1890, p. 50,— Burne, Proc, Zool. Soc. London, 1905, I, pp. 291 seqv. 

 (Japan; anatomy). 



1884. Sphargis coriacea var. schlegejii Garman, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 25, p. 

 303 (Tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans). 



1884. Sphargis schlegelii Garman, Bull. IT. S. Nat. Mus., No. 25, p. 295. 



Dr. R. A. Philippi has recently described'' and roughly figured a 

 new species SpJiargis angustata from the coast of Chile. It is not 

 possible at present to say whether it is identical with D. scMecieVn 

 or not. 



The exact status of this form is not known and no specimen from 

 the Pacific Ocean has come under my observation. Under these cir- 



a From the Greek a, without, and SrfKtf, a closed box. 



''From Ssp/xa, skin; ;^:£At;5, turtle. 



c Named after Dr. Hermann Schlegel. See p. 145. 



'^Anales de Universidad, Mem. Cient. Liter., CII-CIV, Oct. 1899, p. 730. 



