THE TORTOISE. 



.337 



an offspring, but to provide itself a covering; not 

 only to secure a family, but to furnish a house. 

 The animal I mean is the Soldier Crab, which 

 has some similitude to the lobster, if divested of 

 its shell. It is usually about four inches long, 

 has no shell behind, but is covered down to 

 the tail with a rough skin, terminating in a 

 point. It is, however, armed with strong 

 hard nippers before, like the lobster ; and one 

 of them is as thick as a man's thumb, and 

 pinches most powerfully. It is, as I said, 

 without a shell to any part except its nippers; 

 but what nature has denied this animal, it 

 takes care to supply by art ; and taking pos- 

 session of the deserted shell of some Other ani- 

 mal, it resides in it, till, by growing too large 

 for its habitation, it is under a necessity of 

 change. It is a native of the West India 

 islands ; and, like the former, it is seen every 

 year descending from the mountains to the 

 left-shore, to deposit its spawn, and to provide 

 itself with a new shell. This is a most bust- 

 ling time with it, having so many things to 

 do ; and in fact, very busy it appears. It is 

 very probable that its first care is to provide 

 for its offspring, before it attends to its own 

 wants; and it is thought, from the number of 

 little shells which it is seen examining, that 

 it deposits its spawn in them, which thus is 

 placed in perfect security till the time of ex- 

 clusion. 



However this be, the soldier is in the end 

 by no means unmindful of itself. It is still 

 seen in its old shell, which it appears to have 

 considerably outgrown ; for a part of the naked 

 body is seen at the mouth of it, which the 

 habitation is too small to hide. A shell, there- 

 fore, is to be found large enough to cover the 

 whole body ; and yet not so large as to be un- 

 manageable and unwieldy. To answer both 

 these ends it is no easy matter, nor the attain- 

 ment of a slight inquiry. The little soldier 

 is seen busily parading the shore along that 

 line of pebbles and shells that is formed by 

 the extremest wave ; still, however, dragging 

 its old incommodious habitation at its tail, un- 

 willing to part with one shell, even though a 

 troublesome appendage, till it can find another 

 more convenient. It is seen stopping at one 

 shell, turning it, and passing it by, going on 

 to another, contemplating that for a while, and 

 then slipping its tail from its old habitation, 

 to try on the new. This also is found to be 

 inconvenient ; and it quickly returns to its old 

 shell again. In this manner it frequently 

 changes, till at last it finds one light, roomy, 

 and commodious ; to this it adheres, though 

 the shell be sometimes so large as to hide the 

 body of the animal, claws and all. 1 Yet it is 

 not only till after many trials, but many combats 



1 Pere du Festre. 



also, that the soldier is thus completely equip- 

 ped ; for there is often a contest between two 

 of them for some well-looking favourite shell 

 for which they are rivals. They both endea- 

 vour to take possession ; they strike with their 

 claws, they bite each other, till the weakest 

 is obliged to yield, by giving up the object of 

 dispute. It is then that the victor immediately 

 takes possession, and parades it in his new 

 conquest three or four times backwards and 

 forwards upon the strand before his envious 

 antagonist. 



When this animal is taken, it sends forth 

 a feeble cry endeavouring to seize the enemy 

 with its nippers ; which if it fastens upon, it 

 will sooner die than quit the grasp. The 

 wound is very painful, and not easily cured. 

 For this reason, and as it is not much esteemed 

 for its flesh, it is generally permitted to return 

 to its old retreat to the mountains in safety. 

 There it continues till the necessity of chang- 

 ing once more, and the desire of producing 

 an offspring expose it to fresh dangers the 

 year ensuing. 



VOL. II. 



CHAP. III. 



OF THE TORTOISE AND ITS KINDS. 



HAVING described the lobster and the crab 

 as animals in some measure approaching to 

 the insect tribes, it will appear like injustice 

 to place the Tortoise among the number, that 

 from its strength, its docility, and the warm 

 red blood that is circulating in its veins, de- 

 serves to be ranked even above the fishes. 

 But as this animal is covered, like the lobster, 

 with a shell ; as it is of an amphibious nature, 

 and brings forth its young from the egg with- 

 out hatching; we must be content to degrade 

 it among animals that in every respect it in- 

 finitely surpasses. 



Tortoises are usually divided into those that 

 live upon land, and those that subsist in the 

 water ; and use has made a distinction even in 

 the name ; the one being called Tortoises, the 

 other Turtles. However, Seba has proved 

 that all tortoises are amphibious ; that the land 

 tortoise will live in the water, and that the 

 sea turtle can be fed upon land. A land tor- 

 toise was brought to him that was caught in 

 one of the canals of Amsterdam, which he kept 

 lor half a year in his house, where it lived 

 very well contented in both elements. When 

 in the water, it remained with its head above 

 the surface ; when placed in the sun, it seemed 

 delighted with its beams, and continued im- 

 movable while it felt their warmth. The 

 difference, therefore, in these animals, arises 

 2u 



