44. THE VIVARIUM. 
found crowding, as thickly as possible, the floor of some upper 
room. A seller of these Reptiles, the other day, headed his 
advertisement with the announcement ‘‘ 10,000 Tortoises.”” One 
naturally wonders what becomes of all these creatures. They 
do not easily die, and the English people are said not to eat them, 
though in other countries they are looked upon as a useful food. —— 
Tortoises will live for a very long time in confinement. The 
celebrated Tortoise, mentioned frequently in the Natural History 
of Selborne, came into Mr. White’s possession forty years after 
its importation into this country. 
Mr. Murray, author of ‘“‘ Experimental Researches,” says that 
“from a document belonging to the archives of the cathedral, 
called the Bishop’s Barn, it is well ascertained that the Tortoise 
at Peterborough must have been about 220 years old. Bishop 
Marsh’s predecessor in the See of Peterborough had remembered 
it above sixty years, and could recognise no visible change. He 
was the seventh bishop who had worn the mitre during its 
sojourn there. If I mistake not, its sustenance and abode were 
provided for in the document. Its shell was perforated in order 
to attach it to a tree, etce., to limit its ravages among the straw- 
)} berry borders.” It is also recorded that “this animal moved — 
with apparent ease, though pressed by a weight of 18st. ; it 
weighed 134lb.” 
It seems to be no very unusual thing for a Tortoise to live for 
more than 100 years. Dr. Giinther, in 1875, described in the 
July number of Nature a pair of Aldabra Land Tortoises, which 
had been deposited in the Zoological Gardens. The male weighed 
800lb.; its carapace in a straight line measuring, in length, 
5ft. 5in., and in breadth, 5ft. Yin. ; and the circumference of the 
shell was as much as 8ft. lin. This Tortoise, a male, was known 
to have been in the Seychelles for about seventy years. When 
it died, some ten years after its arrival in this country, it was 
still growing. Dr. Giinther, elsewhere, speaking of these very 
interesting gigantic Tortoises, which used to live in great numbers 
in the Mascarene and Gallapagos Islands, says that they are 
now on the verge of extinction or have actually become extinct. 
Land Tortoises will not only live for a very great number of 
years in English gardens, but will also, under favourable circum- 
