30 



VERTEBRATA— eeptilia $ amphibia. 



Revised by Thos. Cornish. . t 



— -~ X 



I HA YE revised Mr. Couch's list of Cornish, reptiles after 

 having revised his list of Cornish fishes, and therefore I 

 must beg leave to refer to the remarks with which I preface 

 that list for an explanation of my process now. 



&JSPT1LIA—(Rtwtilbs). 



"Luth" or " Leathery Turtle" (Sphargis Coriacea). Eorlase 

 records the occurrence of this turtle in Cornish seas, and 

 there is no reason to doubt the correctness of his observa- 

 tion. Certainly several have been taken on the coast of 

 France, and some on the coast of England. It is a 

 powerful swimmer.* 



" Green Turtle " (Chelonia viridis.) The turtle which yields the 

 green fat of turtle soup, A specimen, covered with 

 barnacles and sea weed, was taken alive and in vigorous 

 condition, in a drift net about two miles south of Mouse- 

 hole Island, in Mount's Bay, on 5th October, 1874. This 

 turtle sometimes appears in English waters, washed over- 

 board from ships or out of a wreck, but it is probable that 

 this particular specimen found its way across the ocean 

 naturally (by coming with the current) not only from the 

 state in which it was when taken, but also from the fact 

 that within four days of its capture ' ' pimelepteres cornu- 

 biensis," a tropical fish, was taken alive in Mount's Bay, out 

 of a floating packing case, which was covered with barnacles. 

 The fish and the turtle probably floated across the Atlantic 

 together in some sort of involuntary company. 



The Sand Lizard f Lacerta agilis) is mentioned by Borlase, and 

 retained by Couch as having occurred in Cornwall. They 



* Couch (appendix p. 149) records the capture of a turtle off Si the Wolf " Eock, 

 but its species was not identified. It was taken in August, 1839. 



