CHAP. VIII. 



THE TESTUDO GR1ECA, OR COMMON TORTOISE. AN 



ACCOUNT OF THAT IN THE PALACE GARDEN AT 



PETERBOROUGH. ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS. 



THE DORMOUSE. 



THE testudo grceca, or common tortoise, may be occa- 

 sionally met with in gardens in this country. Mr. Neill 

 has had several at a time, and they move about either 

 in his greenhouse or garden. One of several tortoises 

 laid three eggs in the Rev. Dr. Patterson's garden at 

 Montrose, who gave us one of them : it was spherical, 

 the shell apparently thick, and altogether resembled 

 a ball of marble. The size to which the tortoise 

 sometimes attains is immense : we remember, some 

 years ago, to have seen one, then semi-torpid, ex- 

 hibited near Exeter 'Change, London, which weighed, 

 if we recollect aright, several hundred weight. Its 

 shell was proportionally thick, and its other dimensions 

 bore a corresponding ratio : it was stated to be about 

 800 years old, but this must be considered fabulous ; 

 its size, indeed, and enormous thickness of the shell, 

 were presumptive evidence that its age may have been 

 of an antediluvian character ; but no chronicles en- 

 rolled its years. In the library of the palace at 

 Lambeth is the shell of a land tortoise, brought there 

 about the year 1623 : it lived until 1730, and was killed 

 by the inclemency of the weather during frost, in conse- 

 quence of the carelessness of a labourer in the 

 garden, who, for a trifling wager, dug it up from its 

 winter retreat, and neglected to replace it. Another 



