120 
Philippine Journal of Science 
1920 
Until it can be proved that D. schlegelii and D. coriacea are 
identical, I believe that Carman’s name should stand for the 
species occurring in the western Pacific and Indian Oceansd^ 
Bermochelys schlegelii (Carman). 
Sphargis mercurialis Temminck and Schuegel, Fauna Japon., Kept. 
(1835) 6, pi. 1; pi. 2, figs. 3-5; pi. 3; Okada, Cat. Vert. Japan 
(1891) 71. 
Sphargis coriacea Bleeker, Natuurk. Tijds. Neder. Indie 15 (1850) 
260; Ticket, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal 4 (1862) 367; McCoy, Nat. 
Hist. Victoria 2 (1885) 1. 
Dermochelys coriacea Gunther, Rept. Brit. India (1864) 55; Bou- 
LENGER, Cat. Chel. Rhyn. Croc. Brit. Mus. (1889) 10; Fauna Brit. 
India, Rept. (1890) 50; Burne, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1 (1905) 
291. 
Sphargis coriacea var. schlegelii Carman, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. 25 
(1884) 303. 
Sphargis schlegelii Garman, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. 25 (1884) 295; 
Stejneger, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. 58 (1907) 485. 
Description of species. — Head covered with small horny plates, 
usually with a transverse row across snout posterior to nostrils ; 
a rather large parietal plate and a row of elongate scales in 
supra-ocular region; scales on occipital and temporal regions 
small, irregular ; carapace covered with small, irregular, angular 
shields of nearly equal size; a small supracaudal extension of 
carapace; five dorsal keels composed of larger quadrangular 
shields; two lateral keels; plastron continuous with carapace 
below, composed of small shields; plastron with five keels, outer 
keels forming an angle near axilla and continuing to anterior 
point of plastron; legs large, paddle-shaped; forelegs without 
claws, in young about as long as carapace, shorter in adult; 
mouth with a strong beak, with two triangular cusps between 
three deep notches; jaws sharply edged; alveolar region not 
enlarged. 
Color. — Dark brown above, with or without yellow spots; 
longitudinal keels yellow in the young, and the legs bordered 
with yellow. 
Garman, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. 25 (1884) 294, says; “However, there 
is only one case in which there is any doubt, that of Sphargis, of which 
specimens from the different oceans are so much alike that writers are 
still undecided whether there is more than one species. Certain respects 
in which the Pacific “Trunkbacks” differ from those of the Atlantic have 
induced me to separate them, distinguishing the former by the name 
Sphargis schlegelii, and the latter by that by which it is commonly known, 
Sphargis coriacea.” 
