2418 



TORTOISES, TURTLES, AND PLESIOSAURS 



shield in the front of the carapace. Lastly, we have Horsfield's tortoise (7". hors- 

 Jieldi), which, while allied to the European species, differs in having but four claws 

 on the fore-, as well as on the hind-feet. This tortoise inhabits the deserts, oases, 

 and even mountains of Central Asia, where it ranges from the Aralo-Caspian region 

 and the Kirghiz steppes to Afghanistan. The shell, which is considerably de- 

 pressed and not much longer than broad, has a brown or olive ground color above, 

 which may be either uniform or blotched with black; while beneath, it has large 

 patches of black, which sometimes almost cover the whole surface. 



Writing of the elongated tortoise, Dr. J. Anderson says that it is active in its 

 habits, and that the male is very confiding, eating readily from the hand, although 

 the female, when touched, at once withdraws within the shell. Captive specimens 

 were observed to be very restless at night; they feed freely on plantains, but a fe- 

 male on occasion ate some dead prawns and fish, which had been procured to feed 

 some soft tortoises. Horsfield's tortoise, although equally fond of immersing its 

 lower shell in water, is said to be more brisk in hot weather than are the European 

 species; it is purely diurnal in its habits, not venturing forth till after sunrise, and 

 retiring to rest before sunset. Its food in the wild state is stated to be entirely of 

 a vegetable nature; snails and worms being never eaten. 



The angulated tortoise ( T. angulata) of South Africa, together with 



an allied species ( T. yniphora) from an island near the Comoros con- 



Angulated 



Tortoise 



stitute the last and seventh group of the genus, and are distinguished 



from all the others by the great prolongation of the anterior extremity of the plas- 

 tron, which is covered by a single gular shield only. The former attains a length 

 of about seven and one-half inches, and has an elongated and very convex carapace, 



of which the hinder margin is. 

 at most but slightly serrated. 

 In color, the shell is yellow 

 above, each shield being bor- 

 dered with black, and usually 

 ornamented with a black spot 

 in the centre; while the plastron 

 is black in the middle, or has. 

 some large black blotches. 



Nearly related to 

 the true tortoises, 

 with which it agrees 

 in the general structure of its 

 shell, the areolated tortoise (//<?- 

 mopus areolatus} of South Africa, 

 together with three other allied 

 AREOLATED TORTOISE. species from the same continent, 



differs by the absence of the 



median ridge on the front of the palate characterizing all the former, and is on this 

 account referred to a distinct genus. If the horny shields be stripped from the 

 carapace, it will be found that the underlying neural bones, instead of being alter- 



Areolated 

 Tortoise 



