REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS Though the adder, the grass snake, the blind-worm, the lizard, the newt, the toad, and the frog are better known to the untrained observer than the animals in any other section of the county fauna, they have received very little attention from local naturalists in Cornwall, and there has been but little attempt to discriminate between allied species. Borlase speaks of them in his Natural History of Cornwall (1758), Jonathan Couch gives an account of them in his Cornish Fauna (1838), and Cocks an annotated list for the Falmouth district in 1849. Since that date the only descriptive county list that has appeared is Cornish's revision of Couch's article in 1878. Possibly on account of this lack of attention the county list save for its casuals is some- what commonplace. REPTILES CHELONIA LACERTILIA [Luth or Leathery Turtle. Sphargis coriacea. Borlase records the occurrence of this turtle, the largest of all existing Chelonians, in the Cornish seas, and speaks of one that weighed nearly 800 Ib. In the Appendix to his Cornish Fauna, pt. iii, 149, Couch quotes the account from the Falmoutb Packet of an unsuccessful attempt to capture a very large turtle near Land's End, in August 1839, that prob- ably belonged to this species.] [Green or Edible Turtle. Chehne mydas. A specimen of the Edible Turtle covered with seaweed and barnacles was taken alive in a drift-net in Mount's Bay, about two miles south of Mousehole Island, on 5 October, 1874. Speaking of this re- markable capture Cornish says, ' This turtle sometimes appears in English waters, washed overboard from ships or out of a wreck, but it is probable that this particular specimen found its way across the ocean naturally (by coming with the current), not only from the state in which it was when taken, but also from the fact that within four days of its capture, Pimelepteres cornubiensis, a tropical fish, was taken alive in Mount's Bay, out of a floating packing case, which was covered with barnacles. The fish and the turtle probably floated across the Atlantic in some sort of involuntary company.'] [Loggerhead Turtle. Thalassochelys caretta. The nearest breeding station of this turtle is in the Mediterranean, but it is a casual visitor to the Bay of Biscay, and has been captured several times in the south-west of England. In September, 1896, a specimen weighing 1 20 Ib. was taken by some fisher- men about eight miles SSE. of Mousehole.] I. Common Lizard. Lacerta vivipara, Jacq. Widely spread and common in suitable localities throughout the county. [Sand Lizard. Lacerta agifis, Linn. Borlase mentions this as a county species, and Couch retains it on his list. Cornish never saw a speci- men west of Dartmoor, but Miss F. Tripp, the bryologist, refers to it in some MS. Natural History notes as being rare on the moors above Altarnun. The writer'has a specimen given to him by Mr. Dingle, who believed it came from near St. Cleer, but there is some uncertainty about its history. So far as can be ascertained there is no undoubted Cornish example in any collection. If it does occur in the county it is either very rare or else very local, and, in spite of its larger size, stouter build, and general appearance, it may, of course, have been confused with the preceding species. Gadow's description of it may be useful for identification : ' A typically-coloured male during the breeding season is grass-green on the sides and suffused with green on the under parts ; the sides are dotted with black with whitish eye-spots. The under parts are spotted with black. The adult female is brown or grey above, with large dark-brown, white-centred spots, which are arranged in three rows on each side. The under parts are cream- coloured, with or without black specks." (Amphibia and Reptiles, 554.)] 2. Slow-worm or Blind-worm. Anguis fragilis, Linn. Very common throughout the county. 307
