BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 1 N¢ 
Family CHELONIID2. 
THE TURTLES. 
Shell covered with epidermal shields. Neck incompletely 
retractile Limbs  paddle-shaped; phalanges without 
condyles ; claws one or two. 
All tropical and subtropical seas. Three genera. 
In no order of vertebrates, which I can call to mind, 
has any recent zo6logist ventured to unite in a single genus, 
a herbivorous with a carnivorous animal; nevertheless this 
is practically what has been done in the ‘ British Museum 
Catalogue of Chelonians, etc., 1899,” in the case of this import- 
ant family, where the herbivorous T'estudo mydas is associated 
as a congener with the carnivorous T'estudo imbricata. But 
beyond the generic separation of these two forms (which is 
upheld by many high authorities) there lies the question as to 
whether a complete change is not necessary in the synonymy 
of two of the three genera. While T'estudo mydas may be 
left as the type of Chelonia (not Chelone) Brongniart* there 
can be no shadow of doubt that the claim of Testudo caretta 
to stand as the type of Merrem’s genus Caretta, to the exclusion 
of Fitzinger’s Thalassochyels, can not be ignored, that being 
the first species described by Merrem under the name Caretta 
atra. It remains, therefore, to determine by what generic 
title T'estudo imbricata should henceforth be known, and there 
is little difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that Hretmochelys 
Fitzinger, must be resuscitated as the earliest available name. 
The correct titles of the three species of marine turtles, 
which are included in this family, are, therefore, Chelonia 
mydas, Eretmochelys imbricata, and Caretta caretta.t 
This is a good opportunity of entering my protest against 
the far too prevalent practice of altering the orthography of 
an author’s name to suit the individual fancy of the writer. 
It has become quite a common occurence to find in the 
writings of certain biological schools violent diatribes directed 
*I have no access to the work in which Brongniart’s genus is founded, 
and so I cannot speak with certainty as to his actual type. 
+The so-called Thalassochelys (or Colpochelys) kempi is now known to 
be a hybrid between Chelonia mydas and Caretta caretta. It has been long 
known to fishermen as the “ Bastard Turtle.” A pair of young turtles in 
the Queensland Museum from Keppel Bay have been referred by me to a 
possible hybrid between Hretmochelys imbricata and Caretta caretta. 
B 
