508 



BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



authentic specimen from Asiatic waters is in our collection, lience 

 no detailed description is feasible at present. (Figs. 389-392.) 



Ilahitaf. — Notwitlistanding the fact that the present species is not 

 included in the list of Japanese reptiles in the Fauna Japonica, it is 



Fig. 389. — Caretta caretta, young, nat. size, entire animal from above. No. 1482.3, 



U.S.N.M. 



probably the most common of the marine turtles in that part of the 

 world. Professor Mitsukuri writes that this species "deposits its eggs 



390 



Figs. 390-392.— Caretta caretta, young, nat. size. 390, shell from below; 391, head from 

 side; 392, underside of head. No. 14823, U.S.N.M. 



on almost ever}- suitable stretch of sandy beach in the southern 

 half of Japan during the summer months of the jear." Special 

 localities are mentioned by Okada as Awa, Hondo, and Toza, also 



