IMBRICATED TURTLE. 89 



pressly informed, by an author quoted in Mr. 

 Schoepf's publication *, that on examining a great 

 many specimens of the 7\ My das, or common 

 green turtle (which Linuxus characterises by 

 having two claws on the fore and one on the hind 



o 



feet), some were found with two claws on all 

 the feet, others with two claws on the fore and 

 one on the hind ; and, lastly, others with only a 

 single claw on all the feet. 



IMBRICATED TURTLE. 



Testudo Imbricata. T. variegata, scutellis disci imbricatis tre- 



decim. 



Variegated Turtle with thirteen imbricated scales on the disk. 

 Testudo imbricata. T. pedibus pinniformibus, testa cordata sitb- 



carinata serrata, scutellis imbricatis, catida squaniata. JJtt. 



Syst. Nat. p. 3.50. 

 T. palmarum plant arumque uiigvibus binis, scvtis laxe atqve imbri- 



catirn incumbent ibus. Lin. Syst. Nat. Gmcl. p. 103'J. Sckneid. 



Schildkr. p. 309- 

 Imbricated Turtle, or Ilawksbill. 



THE Testudo imbricata is so named from the 

 peculiar disposition of its scales or lamina?, which 

 commonly lap over each other at their extremities 

 in the manner of tiles on the roof of a building. 

 The outline of the shell, viewed from above, is 

 more heart-shaped than in other sea tortoises, and 

 terminates more acutely : each of the middle row 

 of scales on the back is also of a sharpened form 



* Quotation given by Mr. Schoepf from a writer on this sub- 

 ject in the Attgem. Lift. Zeit. Suppl. 1787. No. 19. p. 148. 



