LEPIDOCHELYS DUSSUMIERL 43- 



2. Lepidochelys dussumieri, Grd. 



Spec. Char. — Anterior pair of parietal plates not contiguous upon 

 their inner margin, between which the vertex plate is interposed, 

 the latter touching the postfrontal pair ; second and third pairs of 

 parietals rather small; postoccipitals subequal. Carapax subellip- 

 tical. Five vertebral shields : three middle ones narrow and elon- 

 gated; fifth expanded side wise. Six pairs of costal shields. Poste- 

 rior extremity of the carapax deeply emarginated. A well-deve- 

 loped and acute claw to each hand and foot. Eeddish-brown above ; 

 limbs darker than the carapax, except the claws, which are yel- 

 lowish. Head and neck lighter ; centre of cephalic j^lates reddish, 

 with a yellow margin; jaws yellowish. 



Syn. — Ghelonia dussumierii, DuM. & Bibr. Erp6t. gen. II, 1835, 557. (Exclus. syn.) 



Obsery. — The carapax is subelliptical ; that is, less tapering poste- 

 riorly than in L. olivaeea. The first pair of parietal plates, obliquely 

 directed forwards, are situated on the sides of the vertex plate, which 

 is elongated and hexagonal, and contiguous anteriorly to the postfron- 

 tals. The second and third pairs of parietals are rather narrow or 

 exiguous, and smaller than the latero-occipitals. The postoccipitals 

 are subelliptically elongated. There are three small additional post- 

 occipitals, one behind the commissure of the typical plates of the same 

 name, the others behind the latero-occipitals. The inferior and middle 

 postorbitals are subequal, elongated, larger than the upper. The tem- 

 poral plates, or shields, are unequal. The neck is covered with small 

 scales, and the paddles with small plates, largest along the digits and 

 along the edges of these organs. 



Log. — Coast of Malabar. 



Remarks on Chelonia virgata, Schw. 



The generical afl&nities of this species remain yet a subject for fur- 

 ther investigations. Cuvier supposed it to be more intimately related 

 to the " Caret," of the Red Sea, spoken of by Bruce, than to any 

 of the other types. The figure in the ^' Iconographie du Regne ani- 



110 



