TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 33 



The home of the Tortoise is 1ST. Africa and S. W. 

 Asia. It also occurs in Southern Andalucia, 

 breeding in the sandy pine forests of the 

 Marismas, near the mouth of the G-uadalquiver. 



There are three claimants, it should be men- 

 tioned, to the title of " Greek " Tortoise. The 

 second, Testudo Grceca, is a close ally of T. iberia, 

 and occurs in the northern half of the Balkan 

 Peninsula, Asia Minor, Syria, Italy, and the 

 Islands of the Mediterranean. 



The third is the genuine Greek Tortoise, 

 Testudo marginata, since it is restricted to Greece 

 proper, and is the only land tortoise which is 

 found there. 



These three species are very much alike in 

 habits, and are exclusively vegetable feeders. 

 They are very fond of basking in the sun, and 

 extremely averse to getting wet, retreating to 

 some sheltered place on the fall of the first few 

 drops of rain. On the approach of winter they 

 bury themselves in a hole in the ground, or in a 

 heap of decaying leaves and there hybernate till 

 spring. 



The " Gopher " Tortoise of the South-eastern 

 States of North America is a particularly interest- 

 ing species on account of its curious habit of 

 living in a burrow. The burrow, at its mouth, 

 is only sufficiently wide to admit the body of the 

 animal, and runs slightly downwards to a length 

 of about four feet. The whole passage may be 

 as much as two yards long, and gradually widens 

 from the mouth inwards, terminating in a spacious 

 chamber lined with branches of fir trees. Each 

 burrow is inhabited by a pair of tortoises. When 

 C 



