164 TESTUDINATA. 



Entire length about 1 foot. 



Feeds on vegetables, and seems to prefer sandy situations. 

 The Greek Tortoise appears to be confined to a portion of 

 Southern Europe, viz. Greece, Italy, and the principal 

 islands of the Mediterranean and the South of France. Very 

 common in Sicily and around Rome. Pallas records it as 

 inhabiting the neighboui'hood of the Caspian Sea. 



Genus EMYS. FRESHWATER TORTOISES. 



The animals of this genus are distinguished from those 

 of the preceding chiefly by the greater separation of the 

 toes, vrhich are terminated by longer nails, and have their 

 intervals filled up by membranes. There are five nails to 

 the fore-feet, and four to the hinder. Their form is gene- 

 rally flatter than in the Land Tortoises, and they feed on 

 insects and small fish. 



Emys lutaria. 



Cistudo Europcea, Dum. et Bib. vol. ii. p. 220. 

 lutaria, Buon. Faun. Ital. (figured). 



Desceiption. — Carapace wide, oval, more or less depressed ; 

 black, marked with yellow spots varying in distance from 

 each other, but arranged like rays, extending from the 

 centres of the plates to their circumferences ; the neck- 

 plate is small ; the plastron is attached to the carapace by 

 a cartilage, and is moveable before and behind ; the tail is 

 rather long, rounded, and ending in a point ; it is always 

 shorter and thicker at its base in the males than in the 

 females. 



Entire length, from 9 to 11 inches. 



Lives in lakes and marshes, remaining generally buried 

 in the mud ; as winter approaches, it comes to land and 

 passes that season in a state of torpor, hidden in some hole. 



