THE EMYDES. 253 



on the leavings of the Night Heron, and enjoying the little bits of fish which had dropped from the 

 bird's beak, and which ohe Heron did not consider worth picking up. It prefers its food in a half 

 putrid state, and searches also for insects and worms. Mushrooms, peaches, strawberries, and rasp- 

 berries are not despised by this omnivorous creature, but this mixture of food renders this edible 

 Terrapin anything but a favourite food, although its flesh is said to be excellent. Like most of its 

 family, this Cistudo hibernates. It seeks a warm loose soil with a southern aspect, often under a heap 

 of decayed brushwood, and digs down beneath the surface in the middle of October. There it lives 

 unless the weather is very severe, when many die until the middle or latter end of April, in a torpid 

 condition. It comes forth very feeble, and soon begins to move if the sun is shining warmly. After 

 a while it seeks a soft place, digs down, makes a deepish little hole, and lays an egg, which it covers 

 with a little earth, using the hind feet. Then another is laid and covered up, and at last the laying 

 is finished, and the mother covers all, and treads the ground down so that the nest is found with 

 difficulty. The young when just hatched are soft and cartilaginous. 



The genus Emys belongs to this group, and is very rich in species, which inhabit all the tem- 

 perate and tropical regions, except Aiistralia. They cannot well exist withotit water, and they abound 

 in the still waters and tanks of the lower parts of India, often remaining motionless on the water, 

 the shell and the snout above it and the rest below, and they disappear at the approach of danger, 

 darting away with great rapidity. Their pointed claws enable them to crawl easily over slippery and 

 steep places, and dig little holes for a small number of long hard-shelled eggs, which in some species 

 are from eighteen to twenty months in hatching. They are chiefly carnivorous, and the flatter 

 the shell, the broader the foot-web, and the more jagged the jaws, the more aquatic and destruc- 

 tive are the habits. They live on tender insects, frogs, small fishes, little birds, and small mammals, 

 and are in turn hunted and eaten by Crocodilia and large fish. They are easily kept in captivity, 

 provided that they are placed in a tank, and fed with meat cut into small pieces or with frogs. The 

 head and feet can be retracted within the carapace. 



Of these the Ocellated Pond Tortoise* approaches the Land Tortoises in its habits and in 

 several characters, and has a brownish shell, with " eye " spots of a chestnut-brown with a light 

 edge, and the lower parts are yellow. It comes from Mergui and the Tenasserim coast. China yields 

 the Speckled Emys, about five inches and a half long.t The ThurgiJ is large, over twenty -two 

 inches in length, and the jaws are denticulate. It is highly carnivorous, and comes from the Ganges. 

 The Yellow-spotted Emys|| comes from the same river, and has been brought to Europe. Finally, the 

 Ceylonese Pond Tortoise is common in Ceylon as well as in the peninsula of Hindostan, and the 

 shell is uniform brown and the plastron brown-black in colour. The Pangshures are confined to the 

 Indian continent, and have the buckler solid and entirely bony. The feet are broadly webbed, and 

 the claws are of moderate size, five in front and four behind. The common one is found in the 

 Ganges and other Bengal rivers. It is known by its elevated back, and the yellow colour and 

 black spots of the lower parts of the shell. The Batagurs have the carapace depressed, and the 

 claws are feeble. One which reaches the length of twenty inches is thoroughly aquatic, and is 

 found in the Ganges and Irawaddy. It abounds in the Hooghly, and is sold for food. ^ 



The genus Emys has species also in Japan and the Holy Land. 



The Chicken Tortoise** of the United States probably belongs to this group, and is dark brown, 

 with a yellow vertebral line. All the plates are marked with yellow lines, and communicate to give a 

 reticulate appearance. The shell is nine inches and a half long. The creature inhabits ponds and stag- 

 nant waters, and swims slowly from place to place, the head and neck only being visible. They bask 

 on limbs of trees, and plunge in at the least noise. They inhabit North Carolina, Geoi'gia, and Florida. 



The Emys europcea, a great lover of fresh water and marsh land, is to be found in South-eastern 

 Europe, and in Italy, Switzerland, the South of France, Spain, and Algiers. It formerly was not 

 uncommon in the neighbourhood of the Oder, Elbe, and Danube, and it extends into Persia. A small, 

 flat, rather round-bucklered and long-tailed, bright-eyed, yellow-spotted, lively little thing, is this Emys, 

 and it is often sold in England as a pet. It is brown-black on its flat carapace, but the few small yellow 

 spots distinguish it at once. The toes, five in front and four behind, are webbed to a certain degree, 



* L'mijs ocellatus. f Emys lealii (Gray). J Emys thuryi. \\ Emys hamiltoni. 



Emys trijuga. H Emys tecti (Gray). ** Emys rtticulata. 



175 



