33S THE TORTOISC. 



The Archbishop of Canterbury kept one of these ani- 

 mals in his garden, which was known to have been in 

 that place an hundred and twenty years, and was neither 

 supposed to have died from age or infirmity, but to have 

 lost its life through the severity of the frost. 



From the smallness of the brain, and the slowness of 

 its motion, the tortoise appears a torpid animal, whose 

 life is lengthened by repose ; and it is known to burrow 

 holes three or four feet deep, for the purpose of retiring 

 during the intensity of the cold, where it frequently re- 

 mains for six months together, till roused from insensi- 

 bility by the genial warmth of spring. 



The eggs of this species of animals, like those of birds, 

 are all furnished with a yolk as well as a white, though 

 they appear rather to be covered by a tough skin than 

 a shell. It is difficult to ascertain the number of land- 

 tortoise's eggs, though it is supposed their number is 

 not very great ; the female deposits them in a slight 

 depression in the ground, and then leaves them to be 

 nurtured into life by the heat. 



The sea-tortoise, or turtle, as it is commonly called, is 

 generally larger than the one which has just been de- 

 scribed ; for the element in which it dwells is known to 

 possess the power of increasing the natural bulk of those 

 animals, which are allowed to be capable of existing 

 both upon land and sea. The sea-pike is. much larger 

 than any of the speciesthat exist in a fresh-water stream; 

 the sea-bear exceeds that which dwells upon the moun- 

 tains; and the turtle is superior to the tortoise in size. 



The great Mediterranean turtle is the largest of the 

 species, and frequently weighs nine hundred pounds ; 

 the flesh is not only unpalatable, but has often been at- 

 tended with poisonous effects ; and the shell is not ca- 

 pable of being converted to any use. 



