TESTUDO MARGINATA. 161 



Class REPTILIA. REPTILES. 



Vertebrate animals^ with cold blood; the heart with 

 one or two auricles, and one ventricle; oviparous; 

 breathing by lungs, or by lungs and gills ; the body 

 covered with shelly plates, or with scales, or with a 

 soft, naked skin. 



Order TESTUDINATA. (TORTOISES.) 



The body is enclosed in a double shield, the head, 

 neck, limbs, and tail alone being free ; the upper shield, 

 or carapace, is formed by the union of the ribs and dorsal 

 vertebrae ; the lower one, or plastron, by the pieces of 

 the sternum. The jaws are horny, without true teeth. 

 The feet four in number. 



Genus TESTUDO. LAIS'D TOETOISES. 



Carapace bulged, supported by a sohd, bony frame-work, 

 and soldered by the greater portion of its lateral edges to 

 the plastron (or under shell). Legs truncated ; toes very 

 short, united almost to the nails, of which there are five to 

 the fore-feet and four to the hinder feet, all thick and 

 conical. 



Testudo marginata. 



Testudo marginata, Dum. et Bib. vol. ii. p. 57. 

 Chersus 7narginatus, Buon. Faun. Ital. (figured). 



Description. — Carapace oblong, oval, much arched or 

 vaulted, with the hinder portion of its margin, in adults, 



