362 CHELONIA 



CHAP. 



become much flatter on the top of the shell, but the sides remain 

 steep, so that the whole shell roughly resembles a somewhat 

 oblong box with the corners rounded off, and the whole upper 

 surface rubbed down quite smooth. The variations of colour 

 are almost endless, and they occur in the same localities. I 

 have a number of all ages from Long Island, near New York. 

 The half-grown are beautifully reddish or orange-brown with 

 dark patches, median keels prominent, plastron uniform black- 

 brown. In others the dark -brown prevails over the lighter 

 markings, which are yellower and more spotted or dotted than 

 patched. Some of the oldest, with quite smooth shells, are 

 black, with small, round, light yellow spots. Others are vermi- 

 culated or striped with yellow and black. The soft parts vary 

 to the same extent, some showing on the neck a beautiful 

 intricate pattern of yellow, reddish and brown, while in others 

 these colours are arranged more or less in longitudinal stripes. 



These " Box-tortoises " are often caught in the States and kept 

 as pets in the gardens, and their owners mark them by cutting 

 their initials into the plastron. These marks heal up and 

 widen in time like letters cut into the bark of a tree. One of 

 my specimens, certainly a very old one to judge from his hooked 

 beak, perfectly smooth and flat shell, arid from the condition of 

 the marginals, which have the edges rubbed down quite smooth 

 and rounded off, has two initials and the date 1837 on its 

 plastron. Of course there is no proof that the date had been 

 cut in that year, more than sixty-three years ago, but it was 

 done a long time ago. The scars on those parts of the shell 

 which touch the ground are almost effaced, and the letters and 

 figures have become somewhat distorted owing to the usual 

 unequal, not concentrical, peripheral growth. Moreover, this 

 tortoise must have been already adult, although not quite fully 

 grown, since the marks are large and were evidently put in such 

 a size and position as to fit the available space. I may mention 

 that this record tortoise was, when I got it, not kept in confine- 

 ment, but had been picked up at large. 



These Box-tortoises become very tame. Although fond of 

 drinking quantities of water in long and slowly repeated draughts, 

 they do not go into the water, and if they fall in accidentally 

 they are liable to get drowned. They enjoy a mixed diet, but 

 animal food predominates, consisting chiefly of snails, the shells of 



