714 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. 



Variation. — The younger specimens have a more pronounced 

 median keel on the carapace; the nuchal is wider, especially in front; 

 first vertebral with longer anterior suture than the posterior and 

 straig-ht lateral sutures; the vertebrals are wider than long, nearly as 

 wide as or, in the smallest specimen, even wider than the costals; the 

 wrinkles and ridges are also stronger. The color above is darker, 

 and some pale but obscure crossbars may be seen; two of the speci- 

 mens have the marginal and costal sutures widely edged with a broad 

 pale margin; the dusky markings on the plastron are more distinct; 

 the symphyseal median pale line and the two lateral throat lines do 

 not meet so as to form a fork. 



Ilahitat. — The present species is recorded from Jamaica, Cuba, 

 Haiti, and Porto Rico. There are indications at hand that there may 

 be some constant ditferences between those inhabiting the different 

 islands, but the material at my disposal is not sufficient to warrant an 

 attempt to separate them. 



In Porto Rico the species is found apparently sparingly in streams 

 and })()nds in rh(> lowlands. 



Ijist of apecniiftii^ (if Pxendi'mi/s pdlKstrts. 



Genus CARETTA" Rafinesque. 



1814. Carella RAFixEsauE, Specchio d. Sci. (Palermo), II, no. 9, 1 Sett., 1814, 



p. 66 (type C. nasuta= Testudo caretta). 

 1836. TlmldssoclLelys Fitzinger, Ann. Wien Mus., I, 1835, p. 121, (type Testudo 



caouana = T. caretta ) . 

 1838. Caouana Cocteau, in Sagra's Hist. Fis. Pol. Nat. Cuba, IV, Kept., p. 31 



(type Chelonia cephalo—T. caretta). 



The generic name Caretta is usually credited to Merrem, 1820, and 

 because Ritgen in 1828 limited it to C. imhrlcata it has often been 

 given the precedence over Eretmochelys of Fitzinger. This is a 

 mistake, however, for Rafinesque, as early as 1814, not only estab- 

 lished the generic term, but limited it to the species he called C. 

 Quisiita^ which is nothing but the Testudo caretta of Linna?us, the 

 Atlantic Loggerhead. 



«The name Caret (New Latin Caretta) according to Lac^pede is the one by which 

 the hawksbill turtle is generally known in the countries it inhabits. The derivation 

 from cara, face, is doubtful. Carey is Spanish for tortoise shell. 



