30 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



lived at the Zoological Gardens for the past eight years 

 measuring two and a half feet in length. This specimen 

 feeds almost exclusively on carrots and bananas, and, unlike 

 all the other tortoises in the collection, does not hibernate, 

 but remains active throughout the winter. 



The Gopher Tortoise, T. polyphemus, of Florida, is 

 remarkable inasmuch as it lives in burrows, which it only 

 leaves on very hot days. The burrows are excavated in 

 the sandy soil by means of its front limbs, which are armed 

 with abnormally long claws, with the help of the plastron, 

 which is provided with a small spade-like projection. 

 According to H. J. Hubbard the galleries descend at an 

 angle of 35°, and reach a vertical depth of about nine feet 

 from the surface of the ground, measuring often as much 

 as eighteen feet in length. The temperature at the lower 

 end does not vary much throughout the year, not falling 

 below 70° in winter nor rising above 80° in the summer. 

 Once the tortoise has established itself in one of these 

 burrows, it cannot be made to vacate or excavate a new 

 home, but settles down for long periods, some of the 

 burrows being known to have been inhabited by the same 

 individual for as much as twenty-five years. The galleries, 

 if abandoned, immediately become filled up with the 

 shifting sand ; they afford a refuge for various other 

 animals, including opossums, racoons, and owls. The 

 Gopher Tortoise does not survive many months of 

 captivity, making no attempt to burrow. 



The Tabulated Tortoise, T. tabulata, is very abundant 

 all over Tropical South America, and is imported in large 

 numbers to Europe. The shell, which is very elongate, 

 especially in old specimens, attains a length of nearly 



