: - 



CIIKLONIA. 



CIIKI.ONIA. 



supposition that it WM the specie* u*ed by the uicienU in the early 

 ONMtructiou uf the lyre. 



This noil the last-named turtle are the only species of the Ckelonia 

 that have been taken alive on the BritUb coarts. Professor Bell in 

 hi* ' Brituh Reptile* ' ezpraaw* hi* conviction that several of the 

 " fresh-water specie*, both of Kurope and North America, might be 

 naturalised in the nouthern part* of England. The Trrrapau *rop<ra," 

 he aaym, " the common Lacustrine Tortoise of the continent, is found 

 in Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece, in France, and even in Prussia. 

 Theee tortoises are eaten by the inhabitant* of all the countries in 

 which they are found ; and u they live principally upon small fish, 

 the air-bags of which they reject ; it is said that t lie people are wont 

 to judge of the quality of the tortoises to be found in a lake or pond 

 by the number of air-bags which are seen swimming on the surface of 

 the water. I once placed in a small pond, in which were some of 

 these Freeh- Water Tortoises, six small living fish, and on the following 

 morning I found the air-bags of five of them floating on the surface 

 of the water and the sixth fish still alive. In Dome parts they are fed 

 upon grains and other nourishing food, and fattened for the table. 

 There are also several American species of Emyi, or Fresh-Water 

 Tortoise, which will bear a greater degree of cold than that of most 

 of our winters without perishing ; and it is certainly desirable that a 

 wholesome and agreeable food, like that afforded by some of these, 

 should not be lost to us, if the species can be easily perpetuated and 

 multiplied in our climate." 



Several species of Fresh-Water Tortoises are now in the collection 

 of the Zoological Society, in the Aquavivarium of the Regent's Park 

 Gardens. 



The following list of Cheionia, arranged according to their geogra- 

 phical distribution, is from Dr. J. E. Gray's, ' Catalogue of the Tortoises 

 and Crocodiles, &c., in the Collection of the British Museum.' When 

 a species is found in two of the larger divisions of the list on account 

 of its extensive range, it is preceded by an asterisk. 



EUROPE. 



';'' ..'. '' ' I,:, I' . 



T. drauM. 

 myt Ciupica. 

 C'ittudu Eurvjiira. 

 VyjAaiyi* cvriacea. 



ASIA. 



River Tigris. 

 Tyrte Rafeht. 



CUM. 



Tettudo llonjitlilii 



India. 



Tritudv Indica. 

 myi lectttm. 

 E. trntoria, 

 K. Isuraucellii. 

 E. Irijuga. 

 K. liiitata. 

 K. llhonijoka. 

 K. Thurjii. 

 E. tririttnlu. 

 . octUata. 

 K. J/aMtltonii. 

 Tetraonyx liatagur. 

 Kmyda punctuta. 

 Tyrie (iangetica. 



t'hitra Indica. 



Ceylon. 



Tatudu it</la<a. 

 EmytSeba. 



I hiiia. 

 '(jeormi/da Spenyleri. 



ihi. 



(J. Kerrrtii. 

 U. muiirii. 



* rani. 

 Cittudo tri/ateiala. 



.xtciuiin utt<jari]>kal*iii. 

 Tyrte peroceUata. 



Japan. 

 Emyt Japonic*. 



Sumatra. 

 (itormyda ipmota. 

 Emyt crattieollit. 

 . platynota. 



Amboyna, 

 Cittudo Anboinentit. 



Java. 



Cittudo dentata. 

 Tym Jaraxica. 



AFRICA. 

 North. 



Tatudo Gneca, 

 Tyrie AYIo/ico. 



Eastern. 

 Ptlomeduta (hhaftr. 



Western. 

 Tettudo tulcatii. 

 'Kiniryi llomeaiia. 

 K. erota. 

 K. Belliana. 

 Sternothenu Dtrbiaimt. 

 Kmyda Srnegalenni. 

 Tyrie A ryut. 



Southern. 

 Tatudo pardoJit. 

 T. temiterrata. 

 T. geometric*. 

 T. rerroxii. 

 Il'-Mupia areolatui. 

 II. si'/naltu. 

 Chrnina ani/ula/a. 

 "Geoemyda Spengleri. 

 J r :'m tin i a- ill if era.. 

 Wiriiiit/H-ruit catlannu. 

 1'clumediua sultrufa. 



Madagascar. 

 Tettudo radiata. 

 Pyxit arac/inoide*. 



/i- rut niijir, 

 S. nAn i'/i r. 



* //!t<lrji]rii yibua. 



Al'STKAI.IA. 



< 'lull/in i/a Mm /uiiriii. 

 t 'liiliitlitui oblvnya. 

 Chdodina luiigicoltu. 



OCBANIC. 



Mediterranean and Atlantic. 

 coriacea. 



Atlantic and Indian Ocean. 

 Caouana Caretta. 



Atlantic Ocean. 

 Cauuana rlinyuta. 

 C'helonia viiyaia. 

 C. viridu. 



Indian Ocean. 

 Caouana olivacea. 



Red Sea, 

 Cai\lta imoricata. 



NOHTII AMKIII. 



Emy 



K. t 



K. 



. ntrgafrjiluUa. 



K. Hrnnrllii. 



K. rerni'ii. 



K. rirutiila. 



//'(I. 



/;. IIMrookii. 

 K. Truuttii. 

 E. mobilenti*. 

 K. ninrinna. 

 . rdicuktta. 



'lutla. 



/.'. flaridatM. 

 K. /liti-iii/li/jihica. 

 /.'. >jiiltata. 

 K. I'ifta. 

 . BM,i. 



Malaclemyt concentric*. 

 Ciitudo Carolina. 

 Kinotterno* iMonyum. 

 A'. I iiiubtedayii. 

 K. Pentylvanicitm. 

 K. odoratum. 

 Cll ydra terpcntina. 

 Triony.r ferox. 

 T. muticm. 



West coast 

 Kmyt ornata. 

 E. OregonentU. 



TROPICAL AMERICA. 

 Tettudo lultulanta. W. Indies. 

 *A'i;ii/y JIumeana. 



Emyi tcabra. 

 JS. myota, W. Indies. 

 . daxuwta. W. ludiea, 

 E. vermictUata. 

 Kiitoflfrnon irorpioitla. 

 A', iriporcalum. 

 lluilratfu fttaacept. 

 U. radiolata. 

 II * 

 //. t 

 Jl. : 

 II. i 

 II. 



ilirkaudii. 

 II. Ililairii. 

 II. Into. 

 Jl. a fin it. 



niffriiyana. 

 "/"*. 



P. Brll.i. 

 P. Mili<uii. 



1 1 i/it i-iimetluta Mafimiliutiu. 

 II. Harilabrit. 

 Chflyt MatHMata. 

 Pdtocepkalut Tru, 

 Podomemu expanta. 

 P. Dvmeriliana. 



SOUTH Am 

 East coast. 



Galapagos Islands. 



Tatutlu Imtini. Naturalised. 

 Locality unkiion n. 

 tdet. 



E. iinn tttif* r. 



K. Kuhlii. 



FottU Cheionia. 



Cuvier, in his treatise upon Fossil Tortoises, observes that th 

 number of living species is so considerable that it is very difficult to 

 decide whether a fossil tortoise is or is not of an unknown *|. 

 inasmuch as it is not only necessary , before arriving at this conclusion. 

 to compare the carapaces and plastrons covered with their homy 

 plates or scales, as they are ordinarily seen in cabinets and ivpn 

 sented in books, but also the skeletons, so tint the oWrvcr may 

 accurately study the joining of the ribs anil other bonus which concur 

 to compose their cuirasses. He names twenty-nine specie.- that hi- 

 himself had stripped of their covering, and saya that he had performed 

 that operation on others beside. % 



Cuvier commences his description with the fossil T<: 

 distinguishes 1, those from the gypsum-beds of the environs of 

 Paris; 2, those from the gypsum-beds of Aix ; 8, those from the 

 'inolasse' of the department of the Gironde ; 4, those from the 

 and clay-beds of Hautevigne in the department of the Lot and 

 Garonne; 6, those from the gravel-beds in the neighbourhood of 

 Castelnaudry ; and 6, those from the sandy bcda in the environs of 

 Avaray. 



He next considers the Einyda, or Fresh-Water Tortoises, noticing - 

 1, those from the Paris gypsum-beds; 2. those discovered toother 

 with crocodiles in the Jurassic limestone of the neighbourly 

 Soleure; 3, those of the ferruginous sand of Sussex; 4, those of the 

 'molasse' of La Grave and those of the 'molasses' of Switzerland ; 6. 

 those from our Isle of Sheppey; 6, those from the environs of 

 Brussels ; and 7, those from the marly sand (sable marueux) of the 

 province of Asti. 



The Marine Tortoises, or true Chclonians, he divides into 1, those of 

 the environs of Maestricht ; and 2, those of the slate of Glaris. 



The Ijind-Tortoises noticed are 1, those of the environs of Aix ; 

 and '2, those found in the Isle of France under the volcanic beds. 



The conclusions drawn by Cuvier are, that the Tortoises are as 

 ancient inhabitants of the world as the Crocodiles; that they accom- 

 pany the remains of the latter generally ; and that as the greater 

 number of their remains belong to fresh-water or terrestrial M 

 they confirm the conjectures drawn from the bones of crocodiles as 

 to the existence of isles or continents which were frequented l.\- 

 reptiles before the existence of viviparous quadrupeds, or at least 

 before there was a sufficient number of these last to afford a quantity 

 of remains at all comparable to those of reptiles. 



Professor Owen, in his elaborate 'Report on British 

 Reptiles,' drawn up at the requett of the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, and published in their Transactions 

 gives the following account of the order Cheionia : 



I. Family Tatudinida, Tortoises, or Land-Tortoise*. 

 1. New Red-Sandstone Tortoises. The most ancient of the 

 evidences of Chelouians in British formations appear to Professor 



