TURTLES AND TORTOISES 39 



grooves rising like steps; above, the shell is jet-black, 

 with striking pale yellow markings, arranged thus: — 

 The summit of each shield is yellow and from it radiate 

 vivid yellow lines. Particularly striking are the plastral 

 markings, as the under shell is black with two, clean-cut 

 yellow stars. This is an Indian tortoise. The Geo- 

 metric Tortoise, T. geometrica, is an African species, 

 high-backed, with similar markings. Closely allied is 

 the fine Leopard Tortoise, T. pardaltSj of tropical 

 Africa, reaching a weight of seventy-five pounds. The 

 shell is very convex. 



The European Tortoise, T. grceca, having a shell 

 about seven inches long, is common in southern Europe. 

 Its pale olive shell with black-bordered shields is rather 

 pretty. Nearly allied is the Iberian Tortoise, T. 

 Iberia, of southern Europe and northern Africa. 



Giant Tortoises: Among the species of Testudo 

 are some of the most remarkable of living reptiles. Such 

 are the gigantic tortoises inhabiting small, isolated 

 groups of islands in the tropical Pacific and the Indian 

 Ocean. Though the great sea turtles outclass the pres- 

 ent creatures in weight, the latter are, in comparison to 

 other tortoises, of astonishing proportions. Survivors 

 of an age when reptiles grew to an enormous size, suc- 

 cessive generations of these tortoises have lived through 

 periods when an atmosphere reeking with humidity pro- 

 moted fantastic and luxuriant vegetation upon which 

 browsed the great herbivorous lizards; then with the 

 passing of innumerable centuries, during which volcanic 

 disturbances shattered whole continents and cast up new 

 ones, race after race of scaled and plated monsters de- 

 generated and perished. As illustrations of what rep- 

 tile life has been we have only to examine in the museums 

 fossil remains so gigantic that they stagger our com- 



