8 RETT ILLS. 



every where armed with sharp cartilaginous points directed towards the 



stomach. 



Test, mydas, L.*; T. viridis, Schn. ; Lacep. I, 1, (The Common 

 Turtle), is distinguished by its greenish plates, thirteen in number,. 

 which are not arranged like tiles; those of the middle range are al- 

 most regular hexagons. It is found from six to seven feet long, and 

 weighing from seven to eight hundred pounds. Its flesh furnishes 

 an agreeable and wholesome food to the mariner in every latitude of 

 the torrid zone. It feeds in large troops on the sea-weed at the 

 bottom of the ocean, and approaches the mouths of rivers to respire. 

 The eggs, which it exposes on the sand to the sun, are very nume- 

 rous, and excellent for eating; its shell is not employed in any useful 

 purpose. 



A neighbouring species, Cliel. maculosa, Nob., the middle plates 

 are twice as long as they are broad, and of a fawn colour, marked 

 with large black spots. In a second, Chel. lachrymata, Nob., whose 

 middle plates are similar to those of the maculosa, the last is so raised 

 as to form a knob, and the fawn colour is marked with black streaks. 

 The shell is employed in useful purposes. 



Test, imbricata, (the Hawk -bill or Imbricated Turtle), L. ; Le 

 Caret, Lac. I, 11; Schcepf. XVIII, A. Smaller than the viridis, 

 has a longer muzzle and denticulated jaws ; there are thirteen fawn- 

 coloured and brown plates, which overlap each other like tiles; its 

 flesh is disagreeable and unwholesome, but the eggs are delicious, 

 and it furnishes the finest kind of tortoiseshell employed in the arts. 

 It inhabits the seas of hot climates. 



There are also two species which approximate to the imbricata, 

 Chel. virgata, Nob.; Bruce, Abyss., pi. xlii; whose plates are less 

 elevated, the middle ones equal, but with more acute lateral angles, 

 and marked in iadii with black specks; and Chel. radiata, Schcepf, 

 xvi, 13, which only differs from the preceding in the increased breadth 

 of the last middle plate; it is perhaps a mere variety. 



Test, caretta, Gra. ; La Caouane, Schcepf. pi. xvi; is more or less 

 brown or red, and has fifteen plates, the middle ones of which are 

 ridged, particularly towards their extremities; the point of the upper 

 mandible is hooked, and the anterior feet are longer and narrower 

 than in the neighbouring species, having two better marked nails. 

 It is found in different seas, and even in the Mediterranean; it feeds 

 on shell -fish; the flesh is not eaten, and its shell is of little value, 

 but it yields good lamp-oil. 



Merrem has recently distinguished, by the name of Spiiargis, those 

 Cheloniaa whose shell is destitute of plates, and merely covered with a 

 sort of leather j. Such is 



Test, coriacea, L,. ; Le Luth, Lacep. I, iii; Schcepf. xxviii. (The 



* This name of My das was taken by Linnaeus from Niphus. Schneider considers 

 it as a corruption of emus. 



t Fleming calls them Cokiudo; Lesueur, Dermocielis. 



