LAND TORTOISES. 



159 



us that the carapace of the Tortoise contributed its substance to 

 the formation of the first lyre ; it was consequently sacred to 

 Mercury as the deity of music and inventor of that instrument. 



The Land Tortoises are divided into four genera, which Dume'ril 

 and Bibron again divide into three sub-genera and thirty species. 

 The most interesting species, however, to which we must limit 

 our remarks are the Marginate Tortoise, Testudo marginato ; the 

 Moorish Tortoise, Testudo Mauritianica ; the Greek Tortoise, 

 Testudo Grceca; and the Elephantine Tortoise, Testudo elephantina. 



The Margined Tortoise, which was long confounded with the 

 Greek Tortoise, is found abundantly throughout the Morea, in 

 Egypt, and upon the Barbary coasts. The carapace is oval in 

 form, oblong, convex, and much dilated at the posterior margin, 

 and nearly horizontal ; the plastron is movable behind, which is 

 its chief sub-generic character ; the tail is thick, conical, and 

 scarcely issues from the carapace. The plates of the disc are of a 

 blackish-brown, presenting towards the centre certain spots of a 

 beautiful yellow colour ; the marginal plates are habitually orna- 



Fig. 35. Testudo Mauritianica. 



mented with two triangular spots, one yellow, the other black. 

 The underpart of the body is of a dirty yellow, with one large 

 triangular black spot upon six or eight of the sternal scales. This 

 Tortoise is of medium size. 



The Moorish Tortoise, Testudo Mauritianica, is commonly found 

 in the neighbourhood of Algiers, and along the coast of Morocco, 



