TURTLES, TERRAPINS, AND TORTOISES 19 



do not remain inside for long, however, for after a few- 

 seconds they dart out with unexpected rapidity, their 

 mouths wide open, ready to inflict a severe bite with their 

 cutting jaws. The back of the legs of the males in some of 

 the species bears two patches of horny tubercles, and by 

 rubbing these against one another stridulating sounds are 

 produced very similar to those so well known in grass- 

 hoppers. 



The widely distributed family Testudinid^, vv^hich 

 embraces some 130 species, includes a number of strictly 

 aquatic genera, as well as all the land tortoises, the passage 

 from the one form to the other being so gradual as to 

 preclude any sharp definition. With the exception of 

 Australia and Papuasia its representatives are distributed 

 throughout the greater part of the world. 



Batagur and Harddla are two closely related aquatic 

 genera, represented each by a single species ; the former, 

 inhabiting Bengal, Burma, Siam, and the Malay Peninsula, 

 is to be distinguished from the latter, which is confined to 

 Northern India, by its front limbs being provided with 

 only four claws, instead of the usual five. The limbs are 

 very broadly webbed, somewhat approaching the paddle- 

 shape. The tail is short. 



The Baska Turtle, Batagur baska, abounds in the 

 Ganges and its tributaries, and is occasionally caught out 

 at sea in fishing nets. Although purely a vegetable 

 feeder in its native waters, specimens in our Zoological 

 Gardens all develop a taste for the bread, biscuits, and 

 buns thrown into their tank by visitors. The eggs of 

 this species, the collecting of which is a royal prerogative 



