152 



CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



nese tortoise-shell, which is obtained from the Celebes, is the 

 finest that conies to us, but the natives that collect it kill the 

 turtles outright by knocking them on the head, and the dermal 

 scutes are removed by boiling the shell of the animal in water. 

 In the carapace of the young Hawk's-bill I have before me, it 

 wxmld hardly seem possible that the dermal scutes could be re- 

 produced again, provided they were once removed, and the speci- 

 men survived the baking. This I judge from the fact that the 

 outer halves of all the costals of the osseous carapace are quite 



FIGS. 40, 41. SHELL OF Testudo pardalis. 



To show the divisions of the integument, which are marked by entire lines, and of the osseous cara- 

 pace, these being marked by dotted lines. 



Fig. 37. Upper or dorsal aspect. 



Fig. 38. Lower or ventral aspect. 



Dermal Scutes : co, costals ; v, vertebrals ; m, marginals ; #, gulars ; pg, postgulars ; p, pectorals ; 

 ab, abdominals ; pa, praeanals ; an, anals. 



Bones of the Carapace : co', costals ; ne, neurals ; nu, nuchal ; py, pygal ; m', marginals ; ent, 

 entoplastron : ep, epiplastron ; hyo, hyoplastron ; hyp, hypoplastron ; xyp, xyphiplastron. (Drawn by 

 the author after Giinther.) 



rib-like in structure, and separated from each other by very con- 

 siderable intervals. It is over these intervals that the imbricated 

 costal dermal scutes are placed, and in their removal the visceral 

 cavity of the animal would surely be left more or less unpro- 

 tected and exposed. 



Marine turtles, as before remarked, have their fore and hind 

 limbs completely modified, so as to form paddles for swimming, 

 and nothing I enjoyed more when sailing in the Southern seas 



