THE TORTOISE. 99 



Of the terrestrial species, the common Greek 

 Tortoise is a sufficiently familiar example, being often 

 kept in the garden. It is as well, by the way, not to 

 allow it to visit the strawberry beds, as it will assuredly 

 help itself to the fruit as soon as it ripens, and, stupid 

 as it may seem, has quite sense enough to pick out the 

 best berries. I had one for some five or six years, 

 and was obliged, during the strawberry season, to keep 

 it tethered on the grass by means of a string, one end 

 of which passed through a hole bored in the shell, and 

 the other was fastened to a weight too heavy for the 

 creature to move. 



In the marine turtles, the fore limbs, and especially 

 the feet, are greatly lengthened and flattened, so as to 

 form instruments of propulsion. The hind feet are 

 also very wide and flat, but are not so much elongated 

 in proportion as are the fore limbs. In the Hawksbill 

 Turtle, which furnishes the " tortoise-shell " of com- 

 merce, the fore limbs are enormously elongated. I 

 have in my collection a young Hawksbill that was 

 captured almost immediately after it was hatched, and 

 before the projecting shelly plates had been developed. 

 In this little creature the fore limbs are so long that if 

 they were straightened, instead of being bent, as they 

 always are, they would be nearly as long as the entire 

 body. 



With these modified limbs they can propel them- 

 selves at a wonderful pace, and, if struck with a 

 harpoon, will sometimes tow a boat for a considerable 

 distance, and with a speed that is truly surprising. 

 They do not seem, however, to be capable of long- 

 continued exertion, and in shallow waters are some- 



