TURTLES, TERRAPINS, AND TORTOISES 27 



withdrawing immediately into their shells. Large speci- 

 mens measure about a foot in length. 



Testudo, the most comprehensive genus of the order, is 

 represented by some fifty species, all terrestrial forms, and 

 includes the three kinds of European Land Tortoises, 

 namely, the Iberian Tortoise, the Greek Tortoise, and the 

 Margined Tortoise. 



The Iberian Tortoise, T. ibera, which is so commonly 

 kept in captivity in this country, is found in North Africa, 

 from Morocco to Tunisia, in Southern Spain, Turkey, 

 Roumania, and South- West Asia. The shell is usually pale, 

 dirty yellow, sometimes brown, with a number of black 

 blotches. A diagnostic point distinguishing it from the 

 other two European species, lies in the presence of a large, 

 conical, bony tubercle, covered by a horny sheath, situated 

 on the back of the thigh. Adult specimens may attain 

 nine inches in length. Although the maximum age that 

 this species may attain is quite unknown, many have been 

 kept in captivity for very lengthy periods. Gilbert 

 White's famous tortoise, which belonged to this species, 

 lived nearly sixty years, while a specimen that died only 

 last year, belonging to Miss Jenkins, of Trewergie, in 

 Cornwall, had been kept in the family for ninety-six 

 years. Only a year before its death its owner wrote 

 that in the hot weather the creature would pursue the 

 gardener with such determination, biting his trousers, 

 and butting at his feet, that he was unable to get on 

 with his work, until it had been shut up in the house. 



The Greek Tortoise, T. grceca^ restricted to the 

 Balearic Islands, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, the Balkan 

 Peninsula, the Greek Archipelago, and Syria, is often 



