THE BOX-TORTOISE AND ITS KIN. 



155 



are made. The head is covered with horny substance 

 to protect it. The jaws are hard and are without teeth. 

 The shell-box is so stiff that the turtle can not breathe 

 in the ordinary way. Hence it breathes like the toad, 

 by swallowing the air. The food of the box-tortoise 

 consists of insects, of toad-stools and mushrooms. 



The main difference between the land and the water 

 turtles is that the former has stubby feet, while the 

 latter has webbed or 

 finny feet for swim- 

 ming. Our common 

 turtle likes to live 

 both on land and in 

 the water. There is 

 a kind of box-tor- 

 toise which despises 

 the water, exists 

 wholly on land, and 



sometimes lives to a great age. The Rev. Gilbert 

 White, of England, owned one that had lived among 

 his friends for forty years. A turtle was found in 

 Pennsylvania bearing a date which was known to have 

 been cut in its shell before the commencement of this 

 century ; and when last found it was more than sixty 

 years old. 



The sea-turtles, which are especially abundant about 

 the Tortugas Islands, are those commonly used for 

 food. The green turtle is preferred for this purpose. 

 Some of. these sea-turtles grow to an immense size, a 

 single one weighing as much as four hundred and fifty 

 pounds. The manner of depositing eggs on the sand 

 beach of the islands is thus described by Audubon; 



Box- tortoise. 



