ON THREE EXISTING SPECIES OF SEA-TURTLES, ONE 
OF THEM (CARETTA REMIVAGA) NEW. 
By Ottver P. Hay, 
Of Washington, District of Columbia. 
To the authorities of the United States National Museum the writer 
is indebted for the privilege of examining and describing most of the 
specimens mentioned in the following paper. It is hoped that this 
communication will throw some lght on the bastard-turtle, (ol- 
pochelys kempi Garman, until recently supposed to be a rare animal 
of the western side of the Atlantic and on the new species described 
from the Pacific coast of Mexico. 
COLPOCHELYS KEMPI AND CARETTA CARETTA. 
Plates VI-IX, Plate XI, figs. 1-4. 
The bastard-turtle, Colpochelys kempi Garman, appears to be a 
rather common reptile on the coasts of the Gulf States east of the 
mouth of the Mississippi River and of the South Atlantic States as 
far north as Beaufort, North Carolina. It is also known to come as 
far north as Atlantic City, New Jersey, and it will probably be found 
to be dispersed throughout the Gulf of Mexico. 
Garman was the first naturalist to recognize the species as distinct 
from the loggerhead, Caretta caretta. His description * dealt almost 
wholly with the external characters, no osteological features being 
mentioned except the union of many of the hinder peripheral bones 
with the costals. The species is said by him to be distinguished from 
the loggerhead by the short round body, the low humps over the shoul- 
der and the pelvis, the marginal plates, the narrowness of the occiput, 
and the swollen jaws. The hooked beaks are noted. 
Dr. George Baur was the next who mentioned the species.? Being 
interested in establishing his views of the relationships of Der- 
mochelys he noted the presence of an unusual number of neural bones, 
0 Zool. Anzeiger, XI, 1888, p. 423. 
PROCEEDINGS U. S. NATIONAL Museum, VOL. XXXIV—No. 1605. 
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