164 RKCOKD.S OP tHE AUSTRALIAN .MrpKU.M. 



specimen of ('. (/cy/rcx.s-i; from Cape York and anotlier from 

 Murray Island near by, there seems to be little doubt tliat 

 Macgilliviay must be credited witli tlie Hrst reference to fliis 

 species. 



Xdlcs tin liiiJiitx, I'll-. — it is of interest here to note tliat the 

 Murray Jshmd specimen of ('. di'itrt'ttxn was fed by the natives 

 ou lierrings, which it ate freely. ltaj)pears liowever, th.atthis 

 need not necessarily be its natural food, for Mr. R. li. Ditmars^- 

 has recently i-ecorded Clirhmiu iinidiis^ wliich we have been 

 wout to j-egard as exclusively herbivoi-ous, feeding fi-eely in 

 captivity ou tish, mussels, etc. He writes: — "All showed 

 a prefei'ence for fish over otlier food ; <hey would also 

 eat mussels, oysters and clams — after the nn)llusks had been 

 removed fi'om their shells ; an occasional turtle would nibble 

 at sea-weeds, but immediately left such food when a dead fish 

 was thrown into the tank. Without doubt, wliile in a wild 

 state, the Green Turtle necessarily feeds largely on marine 

 vegetation." I have examined many yards of Green Turtle 

 intestine in quest of Entozoa, and, although animal food 

 abounded in the vicinitj-, nothing of that nature was found. 

 As the form of the jaws differs very little^-' from that of ('. 

 }itijd<ts, it is nnire than pi'obable that under natural conditions 

 C. depress^ is also herbivorous, which is certainly borne out by 

 Mr. H. W. Christie's remarks quoted below. Thi-oughout the 

 animal kingdom there is no lack of evideiu'e of animals in 

 captivity prefei'ring, a-nd even tlii'iving on a diet that is abso- 

 lutely strange to them in a natural state. 



Mr. Hugh W. Christie, is very tirm in his belief as to the 

 distinctness of ( '. dejirest^n from ('. iin/ildti and foi-wards the 

 following very interesting notes: — " ( '. dcjirpx.'^d is j)urely a vege- 

 tarian so far as my observations go, as also ai-e ('. unjdd^ 

 and I'Jn-l iiior}ii'l 1/!^ i iiilirlcalti, whereas tlit> bhicks say I'lirrttn 

 (•(//•(>//" eats shell-lisli, but I have had no cliance of iil)S(Mving it. 

 C. dfiprt'snK lays its eggs on all the sandy beaches round here 

 and on some of the islands, namely — Indian, Baresand, Quail 



12 Ditmars— Eeptiles of the World, 1910, p. 47. 



'•' In a paper by Dr. Haur on various turtles he not«s what ho 0(mi- 

 siders an important ditferonce in the lower jaw of C. deprvusa (Amor. 

 Nat., xxiv., 1H!K), p. -im). In the young skull at my disposal the dilTer- 

 ences are very slight (see post). 



