16, 2 
Taylor: Philippine Turtles 137 
Chel. Stud. (1862) 59; Boulenger, Cat. Chel. Rhyn. Croc. Brit. 
Mus. (1889) 180. 
Chelonias Rafinesque, Specchio. Sci. Palermo 2 (1814) 66. 
Caretta Merrem, Tent. Syst. Amph. (1820) 19, part; Gray, Cat. Tort. 
(1844) 53; Cat. Shield Rept. (1855) 73. 
Mydas Cocteau, in Sagra’s Hist. Fis. Pol. Nat. Cuba 4 (1838) 22; 
Gray, Suppl. Cat. Shield Rept. (1870) 119. 
Chelonia japonica (Thunberg). Plate 7, figs. 1 to 4. 
Testudo japonica Thunberg, Svensk. Vetensk. Acad. Nya Handl. 8 
(1787) 178, pi. 7, fig. 1. 
Chelonia japonica SCHWEIGGER, Prodr. Mon. Chel. (1814) 21. 
Chelonia virgata Schweigger, Prodr. Mon. Chel. (1814) 21. 
Chelonia viridis Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japon., Rept. (1835) 
pi. 4, figs. 4, 5, 6; pi. 6, figs. 1, 2. 
Chelonia japonica Stejneger, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. 58 (1907) 509; 
Garman, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard Coll. 52 (1908) 8. 
Description of species. — (From a living specimen in the Bu- 
reau of Science aquarium.) Head large ; beak somewhat hooked ; 
a single pair of large prefrontals, longer than wide, that on right 
side partially broken; a small azygous hexagonal prefrontal 
between supra-oculars, which are larger; four postoculars on 
left side, five on right side, lowest largest; frontal large, some- 
what notched in front, bordered behind by five parietals ; frontal 
and parietals bordered by two temporals; postoculars bordered 
by four shields, two upper largest; this series of temporals 
followed by five or six unequal-sized shields and two or three 
very small ones, making a total of about twenty shields in tem- 
poral region behind eye; supra -ocular region with a series of 
small shields; lower jaw with narrow mental followed by a large 
elongate shield which is followed by several smaller ones; cara- 
pace smooth ; five vertebral shields ; four pairs of costals ; eleven 
pairs of marginals, first pair in contact with first vertebral on 
either side of nuchal, which is single; a pair of supracaudals ; 
legs long, with a single claw, anterior edge of front leg with 
fifteen shields, about ten on posterior edge; a round isolated 
shield near upper part of underside of leg not bordering outer 
edge ; anterior part of hind leg with eight shields ; a single claw 
present; plastron smooth, attached to carapace by four large 
intercalary plates; six distinct axillary scales; pectoral shields 
widest on plastron. 
Color in life. — Above rusty reddish brown, each shield streaked 
with amber, head shields distinctly reddish, each edged with 
black; shields on side of head dark, with yellow along sutures; 
shields on legs with black centers; plastron yellow. 
