486 



BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



cuinstances it does not seem necessary to submit any general descrip- 

 tion of this easily identified, gigantic animal. The 3"oung niay be 

 foiintl some day in the southern waters adjacent to our territory and 

 may then be referred to their proper place in the system by a compar- 

 ison with the appended text figures, which are taken from an Atlantic 

 specimen (figs. 373-376). 



A specimen was recently captured in Japan and acquired for the 

 Roj^al (\)llege of Surgeons in London, where the skeleton is now 



Fig. 373. — Dermochelys coriacea, young, nat. size. 



TT.S.N.M. 



ENTIRE ANIMAL FROM ABOVE. NO. 19790, 



preserved. A detailed account of the muscular and visceral anatomy 

 of this specimen has been published recently by Mr. R. H. Burne. 



Mr. Burne gives the following descri]>tion of some of the external 

 parts of this animal. 



Description. — Young female; Museum Roy. College Surgeons, Lon- 

 don; Japan. 



In color the animal was black above, blotched with irregular white spots, each of 

 which measured on an average 1-2 cm. in diameter. The ventral surface of the body, 

 limbs, and tail was dirty white, marked with irregular longitudinal bands and blotches 

 of black. 



