CHELONIA. 343 



Family, CHITRID^. 



Freshwater Chelonians with 3 claws on all feet, and extremely weak 

 lower jaws. Feet webbed. 



Chitra, Gray. 



Shell depressed with cartilaginous margins. Sternum united to 

 thorax by cartilage. Sternal callosities four. Head elongate. Lower 

 jaw weak. Eyes placed very forward. 



Chitra Indica, Gray, Cat. Sh. Rep., p. 70 ; Theob. Eep. B. Ivd., 

 p. 26; Gunth. Re^. Br. Ind., p. 50; Murr. ZooL, 8fc., Sind, p. 256. 



General aspect of Trionyx, but shell more depresed^ neck elongate ; 

 colour above dark olive brown, lineately marbled or spotted with brown 

 or rust colour. 



Sah. — Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces and Bengal. 

 Family, CHBLONIDiE. 

 Maeine Turtles. — Fins in place of feet. 

 Caouna, Gray. 

 Fifteen vertebral and costal shields. Fin with one nail. 



Caouna olivacea, Gray, Cat. Sh. Eep., p. 73 ; Gunth. Eep. Br. 

 Ind., p. 52 ; Theob. Rep. B. Ind., p. 23 ; Murr. Zool., ^c, Sind, p. 256.— 

 The Indian Loggeehead. 



Marginal shields 27. Vertebral and costal shields non-imbricate ; 

 never less than fifteen, but one or two may be subdivided so as to 

 raise the number to twenty. Shields of the back strongly ridged in 

 the young, which are blackish and paler than ^in the adult. In life 

 the shell and fins of adolescents are edged with pale yellow, the 

 sternum is pale yellow, tinged with greenish and washed with chestnut. 

 The shell of the adult is blackish or dark greenish, the marginal scales 

 of the fin yellow as in the younger stage. Sternum yellow, washed with 

 chestnut. Oviposits in March and April; eggs 150 to 200, spherical, 

 white. 



Hab. — Sind, Malabar and Bombay Coasts, Bengal and South India. 

 Theobald [Rep. Br. Ind) mentions having extracted 206 unshelled eggs 

 from a female which had then deposited 103 mature ones. The flesh 

 is said to be unpalatable, but the Chinese, also the Hindus in Bengal, 

 are said to relish it. This species with the next is common on the 

 Sind Coast, and has been found on the Malabar and Penang Coasts 

 also. 



Chelouia, Fleming. 



Thirteen vertebral and costal shields. 



Ghelonia virgata, Schw. — The Indian Titetle. 



Distinguished from the last by having one pair less of costal 

 shields. 



