374 AMERICAN TESTUDINATA. Part II. 



from its frequence in some parts of the Atlantic Ocean, whilst it is only met 

 with accidentally in others, it is plain that the West Indies is its home, and 

 that it is not indigenous to Europe, since in three centuries it has not been 

 observed more than nine times in Europe, whereas it is seen at all seasons 

 about the Bahamas.^ This conclusion is strengthened by the fact that it is less 

 and less common as we recede from the Floridas northward ; though from time 

 to time it is carried north by the Gulf Stream, and cast ashore along the South- 

 ern and Middle States, and more rarely as far north as Cape Cod. It therefore 

 becomes highly probable, that the specimens seen in Europe, on the coasts of Eng- 

 land and France, and in the Mediterranean, had followed the Gulf Stream across 

 the Atlantic, and finally landed in regions very distant from their native seas. 

 This fiict is highly important with reference to the question of the identity of 

 the Thalassochelys Caouana, found also on both sides of the Atlantic. 



Judging from the figures of the eastern Sphargis published by Ph. Fr. von Sie- 

 bold in his Fauna japonica, taking especially into consideration the form and rel- 

 ative size of the head, the emarginations of the jaws, and the relative size of the 

 fins, I am inclined to believe that there exists a second species of Sphargis iii the 

 Pacific Ocean, along the shores of Asia, which wanders southwards, with the Asia- 

 tic shore currents, to an extent not yet ascertained. It is also reported by Tem- 

 minck and Schlegel that Sphargis is found about the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 that young specimens collected in that region, by Dr. van Horstok, are preserved 

 in the museum at Leyden. It is further stated by them, that the figures published 

 by Wagler are drawn from a young specimen from the Cape of Good Hope, pre- 

 sented to the museum of Miinich by the museum of Leyden. This being the case, 

 the question at once arises, whether these figures represent truly the same species 

 as that which occurs in the waters of the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean, 

 or whether there exist two other species of Sphargis, besides that of the Atlantic, 

 one of which would be peculiar to the Asiatic shores of the Pacific Ocean, and 

 the otlier to the seas bathing the southern extremity of Africa. With the great 

 powers of locomotion which these Turtles possess, it is, however, also possible that 

 Asiatic specimens find their way to the Cape, and hence to the West Indies ; in 

 which case the same species would be found wandering through all the oceans. 

 But nothing short of a direct comparison of a series of specimens from each 

 locality will settle this question. 



^ Supposing the American specimens to be (lis- by Pennant, and afterwards referred to Sphargis, as 



tinct from the European, LeSueur distinguishes two Sph. tubercuhxta, by Gravenhorst. For more special 



species of Sphargis, and calls tlie American, Dermo- references to the authors mentioned above, consult 



chelys atlantica. The young has also been described Dumeril and Bibron, Erpet. gener., Ilolbrook's N. 



as a distinct species, at first called Testudo tuberculata American Herpet., and Canine's Fauna italica. 



