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Show 10 REPTILIA. pounds. Its flesh is highly esteemed, and furnishes a wholesome and palatable supply of food to the mariner in every latitude of the torrid zone. It feeds in large troops on the sea-weed at the bottom of the ocean, and approaches the mouths of rivers to respire. The eggs it deposits in the sand to ~eceive th~ vivifying influence of the sun, are excellent food; 1ts shell 1s of no yalue. In a neighbouring species, CheZ. maculosa, Nob., the middle plates are twice as long as they are broad, and of a fawn-colour, marked with large black spots. In a second, CheZ. lachrymata, Nob., whose middle plates are similar to those of the maculosa, the last is so raised as to form a knob, and the fawn colour is marked with black streaks. The shell is employed in the arts. Test. imbricata, L.; Le Caret; Lac. I, 11; Schrepf. XVIII, A. Smaller than the viridis, has a longer muzzle and denticulated jaws; there are thirteen fawn-coloured and brown plates which overlap each other like tiles; its flesh is disagreeable and unwholesome, but the eggs are delicious, and it furnishes the finest kind of shell employed by comb-makers, &c. It inhabits the seas of hot climates. There are also two species which approximate to the imbri· cata, CheZ. virgata, Nob.; Bruce, Abyss., pl. xlii, whose plates are less elevated, the middle ones equal, but with more acute lateral angles, and marked in radii with black specks; and Chel. mdiata, Schrepf. xvi, B, which only differs from the preceding in the increased breadth of the last middle plate; it is perhaps a mere variety. Test. caretta, Gm.; La Caouane; Schrepf. pl. xvi, is more or less bro'wn or red, and has fifteen plates, the middle ones of which are ridged, particularly towards their extremities; the point of the upper mandible is hooked, and the anterior feet are longer and narrower than in the neighbouring species, preserv· ing two larger nails. It is found in different seas and even in the Mediterranean; it feeds on shell-fish; the flesh is not eaten, and its shell is of little value, but it yields good lamp-oil. Merrem has recently distinguished, by the name of' SPHARGIS, those Cheloni::e whose shell is destitute of plates, and merely covered with a sort of leather.( 1) Such is Test. coriacea, L.; Le Luth; Lacep. I, iii; Schrepf. xxviii. A very large species of the Mediterranean. Its shell is oval and pointed behind, exhibiting three projecting longitudinal ridges. (1) Fleming calls them Conzuno; Lesueur, UERlllOCilELJS. (2) Add Dermocltelia atlantica, Lesueur. CHELONIA. 11 CHELYS, Dum.(l) The Chelydes resemble fresh water Tortoises in their feet and nails; their envelope is much too small to contain their head and feet, which are very large, and their nose is lengthened out into a small snout; their most dominant character, however, consists in their mouth, which opens crosswise, being unarmed with the horny beak common to the other Cheloni~, and similar to that of certain Batrachians, the Pipa in particular. Test.jimbria, Gm.; La Matamata; Brug. Journ. d'Hist. Nat. I, xiii; Schrepf. xxi. The shell studded with pyramidal elevations, and the body edged all round with a pinked fringe. It is found in Guian~ TRIONYX, Geoff. The Soft-shelled Tortoises have no scales, the shell and sternum being simply enveloped by a soft skin; neither of those shells is completely supported by bones, as the ribs do not extend to the edge of the upper one, and are united with each other only for a portion of their length, the parts analogous to the sternal ribs being simple cartilage, and the stet·nal pieces partially notched as in the sea-tortoises, not covering the whole lower surface. After death, the very rough surface of the ribs may be perceived through the dried skin. Their feet, like those of the fresh-water Tortoises, are palmated without being lengthened, but only three of their toes are possessed of nails. The horn of their beak is invested externally with fleshy lips, and their nose is prolonged into a little snout. Their tail is very short. They live in fresh water, and the flexible edges of their shell aid them in swimming. Trionyx regyptiacus, Geoff. Ann. du Mus. XIV, 1; Test. triunguis, Forsk and Gmel. (The Tyrse), is sometimes three feet in length, and of a green colour spotted with white; its shell is but slightly convex. It devours the young Crocodiles the moment they leave the egg, and is thus of more utility to Eg·ypt than the Ichneumon.(2) __ Test.ferox, Gm.; Phil. Trans., LXI, x, 1-3; cop., Lacep. I, vu; Schrepf. xix (The Soft-shelled Tortoise of America), inhabits the rivers of Carolina, Georgia, the Floridas, and of Guiana. It remains in ambush under roots of reeds, &c. whence it seizes birds, reptiles, &c., devours the young Alligators, ( L) Merrem prefers calling this genus by the barbarous name of MA.TA.liU.T.A. (2) Sonnini, Voy. en Egypte, tom. 11, p .. 333. |