124 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



plied by their keeper. As sunset drew near they invariably re- 

 tired to their favorite corner, where plenty of hay had been pro- 

 vided as bedding, in which they would burrow until nothing but 

 the tops of their shells could be seen. Long before sunrise they 

 were alert and on the move. During the day the larger of the 

 tortoises developed the peculiar habit of making a wallow in the 

 soft ground near the drinking-tank. By turning slowly around 

 in the soft soil a number of times, the ground was converted into 

 mud, in which he lay with seeming satisfaction. This appeared 

 to be, for a tortoise, a peculiar characteristic, because these reptiles 

 usually dislike damp situations, and in most cases inhabit the dri- 

 est ground available. 



Beyond question^ it was while the tortoises were exhibited in 

 this yard, in the center of which stood the large open-air cages 

 of the five orang-utans, that the reptiles communicated to the apes 

 the living Balantidium coli, described in the report of Dr. Harlow 

 Brooks, which in October caused the death of four of the orangs. 



On days when the Park was particularly crowded, and visitors 

 flocked about the rail of the tortoise inclosure, the reptiles ap- 

 peared to take a real interest in the crowd, and went stalking about 

 with necks outstretched, crushing disdainfully under their club- 

 like feet the peanuts and candies thrown to them in a spirit of 

 ignorant kindness. 



Sometimes, though at rare intervals, disagreements would arise 

 among them. These were settled in combats as ponderous as they 

 were harmless to the combatants, each of which would retire with 

 an air of profound satisfaction over the result. These exhibitions 

 of temper usually occurred while their keeper was preparing the 

 morning's meal and placing the green vegetables and melons in 

 the big trays from which they fed. Two of the reptiles would 

 suddenly arise to the full limit of their stubby limbs, and then 

 snap at each other. Their horny, sharp-edged jaws generally 

 rasped harmlessly against shelly armor ; and, after repeating this 

 performance several times, the march to the feed trays would 

 begin. During these absurd fights the limbs of the reptiles, 

 stretched to their utmost limit, recalled the similarity of these 

 members to the corresponding parts of a small elephant ; and pos- 

 sibly it is from this resemblance that the group is sometimes 

 known as the " elephant tortoises." The most astonishing feature 

 of these tortoise fights was the last. After these combats, one or 



I 



