26 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



seldom enters the water, but, on the contrary, frequents 

 very dry places, such as the pine forests of the Southern 

 States, where it is particularly abundant. Wild and 

 freshly captured specimens are usually very shy, re- 

 treating into their shells, when approached, firmly closing 

 them, and refusing to come out until they fancy all 

 danger has disappeared. They take kindly to captivity, 

 however, and often become so tame that they cannot be 

 induced to close their shells. Their diet is a mixed one, 

 consisting of vegetables, small frogs, and earth-worms, the 

 latter especially being highly appreciated. 



With the genus Cuiixys begins the series of entirely 

 terrestrial types — the true tortoises, which are provided 

 with club-shaped feet and webless digits, and in which 

 the plastron is always united to the carapace by a broad 

 bridge. 



In this genus a remarkable modification of the shell 

 takes place, the posterior portion of the dorsal buckler 

 being hinged and movable. 



The Eroded Cinixys, Cinixys erosa, is a curious form 

 from Western Africa. The anterior and posterior margins 

 of the carapace are serrated and strongly reverted, especi- 

 ally in the young, while the plastron is forked in front, and 

 projects considerably beyond the anterior border of the 

 carapace, giving the creature a somewhat grotesque 

 appearance ; the length of this projection equals about 

 one-fifth the total length of the plastron in the female, 

 and somewhat more in the male. These tortoises are 

 abnormally shy and stupid, and of the numerous specimens 

 which I have had from time to time, none have ever 

 become at all tame, but when approached hiss loudly, 



