lUben Orass is Green 



old, but we have no chance of determining its 

 rate of growth. 



The turtle-bones in Indian refuse-heaps suggest, 

 however, that some of the smaller species of water 

 turtles were of larger growth some centuries ago 

 than we now find them. Probably they were less 

 persecuted, for the number of species that now do 

 duty as Baltimore terrapin, unknown to the pa- 

 trons of restaurants, is very considerable. 



The aquatic chelonians, as the naturalists call 

 them, recalled a patriarchal box tortoise that I 

 recently came across. A close inspection proved 

 him to be no very slow coach, after all. I watched 

 every movement as he crawled by me, and he pro- 

 gressed, I found, at the rate of nine feet per min- 

 ute, stopping frequently to take observations. This 

 is at the rate of a mile in less than ten hours, and 

 what may not be seen in the most commonplace 

 mile ? How closely this tortoise scanned his sur- 

 roundings ! 



I followed in a very few minutes and found him 

 still traveling in a direct course, and was just in 

 time to witness a funny scene. The steep bank 

 of a deep ditch had been reached and the tortoise 

 was contemplating the outlook. It was too abrupt 

 a descent for ordinary crawling, and to go in search 

 of a more easy crossing seems not to have been 

 thought of. At last, leaning over the edge as far 

 as possible, the creature withdrew into his shell 

 and sent himself, by a sudden push with his hind 

 93 



