34 THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



longevity can scarcely be considered as an advantageous 

 one. One species, indeed, furnishes a material that is 

 utilised principally for the manufacture of combs and 

 female ornaments, and it was remarked by the Brothers 

 Mayhew as singular that the tortoise which supplies ladies 

 with combs has itself no back hair. However, even in 

 this respect the uses of the tortoise have of late years been 

 greatly discounted by the introduction of compounds of 

 india-rubber for the purpose of combs, and the decline of 

 the fashion for the lofty decorative combs used by our 



grandmothers a fashion which, however, appears to be, 

 to a certain extent, reviving just at present. 



Properly considered, the tortoise should be viewed as an 

 example to be avoided rather than followed. Had it not 

 been for the indolent habits of the pre-historic tortoise, there 

 can be little doubt that it would in time have effected 

 very considerable changes in its structure. The survival 

 of the fittest might not have done much for it, as all 

 tortoises can hold their own in the way of living on. But 

 the progress of selection, the intermarriage between active 

 males and females, would naturally have led in time to a 

 much greater development of leg, and the tortoise might 

 have become as speedy on land as the turtle in water. 



