41 



TABULAR TORTOISE. 



Testudo Tabulata. T. testa oblonga gibba fusca, scutellis disci 



rcctangvlis svlcatis, areolisjlaxesccntibu-s. 

 Tortoise with oblong gibbose brown shell, with the scutclla of 



the disk rectangular and furrowed ; with yellowish centres. 

 Testudo tabulata. T. testa-oblonga gibba, scutellis disci rectan- 



gulis sulcatis, areolis subgibberis. Sckoepf. Hint. Test. p. 56. 



t. 12. f. 2. 13. f. 1.2. 

 Testudo terrestris Brasiliensis. Seb. 1. p. 121. /. 80. /. 2. 



THIS was first described and figured in Seba's 

 Thesaurus, and is there said to be a native of 

 Brasil, but it is believed to be rather an African 

 species. It is distinguished by the greater uni- 

 formity, both as to shape and size, of the pieces 

 which compose the disk, than in others of the 

 genus ; each piece being flattish or but slightly 

 convex, and, in general, of an hexagonal figure, 

 though some of the side pieces are rather pentago- 

 nal : the central part of each is large, and slightly 

 granulated, and the sides pretty clearly and 

 strongly sulcated or lineated with numerous fur- 

 rows, and the whole has a kind of tabular or flat- 

 tened appearance, as expressed in the specific 

 name : the convexity, however, of the shell itself 



/ * 



is very considerable, and the pieces of which it is 

 composed rise towards the middle of each. The 

 colour of this species is a yellowish chesnut, palest 

 or yellowest on the centres of the several divisions : 

 the head is serpentine ; the mandibles serrated or 

 denticulated: the eyes black and bright: the neck 

 brown, wrinkled, scaly, and extensile to the length 



