126 Species of North American Tortoises. 



sides of the neck black, striped with yellow ; throat yellow, 

 varied with black. 



y. Shell brown, the plates marked with concentric striae, 

 and with numerous round and oblong spots of yellow ; keel 

 yellow : sternum yellow unspotted: head and neck black, spotted 

 above, and varied on the sides with orange ; chin and throat 

 yellow ; jaws yellow, the upper one slightly marked with brown. 

 This is the Testudo virgulata of Daudin, and the description 

 was made from the very specimen he possessed, compared 

 with three'others. 



S. Smooth, yellowish brown, with a few indistinct spots of 

 dark brown : sternum yellow, unspotted : skin cinereous 

 brown, fore legs darker, top of the head yellowish; jaws 

 orange, the lower one marked with one or two dusky spots, 

 sometimes unspotted; chin and throat yellowish, rarely 

 marked with a few spots of dusky ; hind legs and tail un- 

 spotted. 



£. Shell and sternum entirely very dark brown, without 

 spots : plates deeply marked with concentric striae. 



Inhabits from Hudson's Bay to Florida, always in dry situ- 

 ations ; in the northern states in hilly woods, and in the southern 

 in pine forests. Naturalists who wish to bound and circum- 

 scribe nature within the narrow limits of their own systems 

 and hypotheses, have striven hard to make this species not an 

 exclusive inhabitant of the land ; but it is as decidedly a land 

 tortoise as any that exists : indeed the shape of its shell would 

 render the water a very improper place for its habitation, 

 nor would it probably feel much at home were it forced to 

 seek its food along with its numerous congeners in ponds or 

 rivers. 



The shell is so hard and the animal so strong that it can 



