Title: Natural history
Identifier: cu31924001567506 (find matches)
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915; Kirby, W. F. (William Forsell), 1844-1912; Woodward, Bernard Barham, 1853-1930; Kirkpatrick, R. (Randolph), b. 1863; Pocock, R. I. (Reginald Innes), 1863-1947; Sharpe, Richard Bowdler, 1847-1909; Garstang, Walter, 1868-1949; Bather, Francis Arthur, 1863-1934; Bernard, Henry Meyners
Subjects: Zoology
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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392 REPTILIA—ORDER II. — CHELONIA.
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invested with separate horny shields, in the leathery turtle it is composed of a vast number of minute irregular ossifications, fitting together like mosaic, and having no sort of connection with the internal skeleton, while its investi- ture takes the form of a continuous leathery skin. Seven bold longitudinal ridges traverse the upper shell from end to end; and there are five similar ridges on the under shell, which is less fully developed. Claw,s are totally wanting on the flippers, of which the fi-ont pair greatly exceed the hinder in length. Although the structural ^'"pi7moXi"J?7nIrr" peculiarities of the skull are of the highest importance m determin- ing the systematic position of the creature, they need not be further alluded to in this place. In length this turtle frequently exceeds six feet. The leathery turtle, which is novv rapidly diminishing in numbers, is an inhabitant of the warmer oceans, one of its favourite haunts being the Tortugas Islands off the Florida coast. It is knovm to be carnivorous, and its habits are probably very similar to those of the true turtles. Com- mercially this species is of no value, its Hesh having a strong and highly un- pleasant taste of musk. Suh-Order II—Fleurodira. The members of the second sub-ordinal group of the Chelonia are best dis- tinguished externally by the mode in which they withdraw the head and neck into the shell. In place of the S-like movement characterising the preceding group, these tortoises always bend the neck to one side in a horizontal plane, so that instead of oceupymg the middle of the front aperture of the shell, the head when retracted lies more or less on one or the other side, according to the relative length of the neck. This very obvious characteristic is, however, by no means the sole claim of the group to distinction. If the dried skuU be examined, it will be found that the bony ring surrounding the aperture of the ear is entire instead of being notched behind, and also that the lower surface of the quadrate-bone is hollowed in order to receive ii knob on the articulating portion of the lower jaw. In all cases the upper and lower shells are fully ossified and closely jomed; and both have a firm union with the bones of the pelvis. When horny shields are present at aU, there is invari- ably an intergular between or behind the two gulars. The Pleurodira are now restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, and are the only tortoises in- habiting Au.stralia and Paj^ua. The first family of tJio sub-order is represented by eight generic types, all of which are restricted to South America and Australasia. As distinctive features of the family, may be mentioned the presence of Family only nine bones in the lower shell, the incapacity of com- Chdyida: pletely retracting the neck within the margin of the carapace, and the absence of the so-called temporal bony arch on the sides of the skull. The typical member of the family is the grotesque mata- mata (Ghelys fimhriatu) of the Guianas and North Brazil, a species easily recognised by its flattened triangular head, the peculiar tuft-like filaments on the sides of the broad and long neck, and the great bosses formed by the

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