TESTUDOPOLYPHEMUS. 45 



neighbourhood of their holes, and basked in the sunshine; as the cold increased, 

 they retired to their burrows, where they became torpid; a few warm days, how- 

 ever, even in Avinter, would again restore them to life and activity. The adults 

 are remarkably strong, sustaining and moving with a weight of two hundred 

 pounds or more. The female is generally larger than the male, with the sternum 

 convex; the sternum of the male is concave, especially on its posterior part. The 

 eggs are larger than those of a pigeon, round, with a hard calcareous shell; they 

 are much esteemed as an article of food. 



General Remarks. This is the only species of Testudo hitherto observed in 

 the United States, and was first described by Bartram, under the name of Gopher; 

 Daudin subsequently called it Testudo polyphemus, which name has since been 

 generally adopted by Naturalists. Leconte has endeavoured to prove this animal 

 to be the Testudo Carolina of Linnaeus, which is considered by most authors as 

 the Box Tortoise. From the very short description of the Testudo Carolina 

 contamed in the twelfth and last edition of the Systema Naturae, by Linnaeus 

 himself, it is not so easy at first sight to determine the point; but if we consult 

 the earlier editions, and compare the descriptions with the plates to which he 

 refers, his meaning becomes evident. In the tenth edition he says, "Testudo 

 pedibus digitatis, testa gibba, cauda nulla;" and the only reference given is to the 

 figure of the Testudo tessellata minor caroliniana of Edwards,* which is certainly 

 the Box Tortoise; for he says, "the lower shell is divided across the middle of the 

 belly, and joined to the upper shell on the sides by a tough flexible skin, by means 

 of which it can, when it draws in its head and legs, close or shut up its shell, as 

 firmly as that of an oyster." Lideed, the figure given by Edwards is so correct 

 and so well coloured, that Shaw afterwards copied it into his General Zoology, 

 observing "that there is no particular necessity for any other description than that 

 given by Edwards himself. "t Here then, we have the name Carolina from Edwards, 

 and the '•'■cauda nulla'''' either from his description, "tail in a rudimental state," or 

 from his plate, where the animal is represented without one. 



* Edwards, Av. p. 205. tShaw, Gen. Zool., vol. iii., Part I., plate 7. 



