TRUNK BACK OR LEATHERY TURTLE. 93 



digestion. In Dr. Storer's Report of the Reptiles of 

 Massachusetts, published in 1839, I find the following in 

 regard to these spines : " Upon the middle and posterior 

 portions of the roof of the mouth are strong spinous pro- 

 cesses and a portion of the oesophagus is in the cabinet of 

 the Boston Society of Natural History ; it is completely 

 armed with long, firm and very sharp spines." In the diges- 

 tive canal I found quite a number of Amphipod crustaceans 

 of the genus Hyperia, identified by Doctor Faxon of the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology. The species is un- 

 known. These little crustaceans are often found attached 

 to the under side of the larger jelly fishes and it is possible 

 that the jelly fish forms a portion of the food of this rep- 

 tile, though in the stomach there were found some pieces 

 of what appeared to be loligo partially digested. In 

 Wood's Natural History I find the following : "The 

 Leather turtle feeds upon fish, Crustacea, mollusks, radi- 

 ates and other animals." In the smaller intestines there 

 was found a kind of whitish mucus and curiously enough 

 a piece of bark about two inches in diameter. The gall- 

 bladder was quite large, holding I should think about a 

 quart of very dark green matter. The lungs were over 

 two feet in diameter, transversely, and eighteen inches in 

 length ; they were traversed by air tubes a quarter of an 

 inch in diameter. The heart was about the size of an ox 

 and not unlike it in general shape. Just inside the skin 

 was a lining' of a cartilaginous substance from one-half to 

 one inch thick on the sides and back ; when this was cut 

 into, a clear, yellow oil would run out, but upon coming 

 into the air would soon congeal to a granular mass resem- 

 bling cosmaliue. The skin on the under side was about 

 a quarter of an inch thick resembling coarse sole leather. 

 The turtle proved to be a male and weighed 750 pounds. 

 When found in the net there was a large specimen of the 



