3 io 



rhomboidal; margin composed of 25 shields, serrated poste- 

 riorly; four pair of costals. Plastron with a series of inframar- 

 ginals. Snout compressed in the adult; jaws hooked, not or 

 slightly denticulated on the margin; mandibular symphysis 

 long; two pair of praefrontals. Tail short. Limbs flat, with two 

 claws; fore limbs long. 



Carapace dark brown, marbled with yellow; plastron yellow ; 

 shields of head and limbs bordered with yellow. Young specimens 

 light brown above, dark below. Length of shell 850 mm. 



Habitat: Sumatra (Wampu river in Lower Langkat); Gr. 

 Natuna Island; Borneo! (Pontianak); Java; Madura Strait; 

 Flores!; Sumba!; Celebes (Manado!, Macassar!); Ternate; 

 Ambon; Banda sea; Aru Islands; Kei Islands; New Guinea 

 (Sorong, Dorei, Geelvink Bay). Samoa; Formosa; Malay 

 Peninsula; Arabia; Atlantic Ocean; Guiana; Tehuantepec; 

 Guatamala; Bahamas. 



Caught for the epidermal horny shields: tortoise-shell. 

 Carnivorous. 



2. Caretta Rafin. 

 (RAFINESQUE, Specchio. Sc. (Palermo) II N. 9 p. 66, 1814). 



Head with symmetrical shields. Carapace ossified in the adult; 



Fig. 117. Caretta caretta (L.). Young specimen with three dorsal keels. 



