8 THE PYXIS. 



The inhabitants, however, always drink first the water in the pericardium, which is 

 described as being best." 



The flesh of these Tortoises is very good, and is largely eaten, both fresh and salted. 

 A clear oil is also obtained from the fat. Those who catch these Tortoises do not choose 

 to go through the trouble of cutting up and dressing an animal that is riot quite fat, and, 

 as the fitness of its condition cannot be ascertained by the ordinary process, a summary 

 method is employed, viz. cutting a slit through the softer skin near the tail, so as to show 

 the fat under the carapace. Should the Tortoise be in poor condition, it is allowed to go 

 free, and, with the imperturbable temperament of the reptile race, seems to care little for 

 the wound. 



Dr. Livingstone mentions a species of Land Tortoise which is remarkable for its love 

 of salt, and the extreme strength of the shell, which, as will be seen, baffles even the teeth 

 of the hysena, which can crush an ox-bone with ease. 



" Occasionally we lighted upon Land Tortoises, which, with their unlaid eggs, make a 

 very agreeable dish. We saw many of their trails leading to the salt fountains ; they 

 must have come great distances for this health-giving article. In lieu thereof they often 

 devour wood-ashes. The young are taken for the sake of their shells, which, when filled 

 with sweet-smelling roots, the women hang around their persons. When taken it is used 

 as food, and the shell converted into a rude basin to hold food or water. 



It owes its continuance neither to speed nor cunning. Its colour, yellow and dark- 

 brown, is well adapted, by its similarity to the surrounding grass and brushwood, to render 

 it un distinguishable ; and though it makes an awkward attempt to run on the approach of 

 man, its trust is in its bony covering, from which even the teeth of a hyaena glance off 

 foiled. 



When this long-lived creature is about to deposit her eggs, she lets herself into the 

 ground by throwing the earth up around her shell until only the top is visible ; then, 

 covering up the eggs, she leaves them until the rains begin to fall, and the fresh herbage 

 appears ; the young ones then come out, their shells still quite soft, and unattended by 

 their dam, begin the world for themselves. Their food is tender grass, and a plant named 

 ' thotona,' and they frequently resort to heaps of ashes, and places containing efflorescence 

 of the nitrates for the salts these contain." 



THE curious Tortoise which is known only by the comparatively scientific name of 

 PYXIS inhabits several parts of the world, and is not uncommon in some portions of India 

 and Madagascar, from which latter localities the specimens in the British Museum have 

 been brought. 



In common with one or two other species, hereafter to be described, the Pyxis has the 

 power of drawing its head, neck, and limbs within the shell and then shutting itself down 

 by means of a Hd, formed by the movable front of the sternum. In most of this tribe 

 of reptiles, the sternum is hard and immovable, but in the Pyxis, it moves on a 

 leathery kind of hinge, so as to open when the creature wishes to thrust out its head and 

 limbs, and to close firmly when it withdraws within the shelter of its bony armour. 



In order to permit of this total withdrawal into the shell, the carapace is oval and 

 more convex than is usually the case, so as to afford a sufficient space for the reception of 

 the head and limbs. These, too, are rather diminutive in proportion to the size of the 

 animal, and so formed as to be packed into a small compass. The Tortoise employs this 

 curious mode of guarding its vulnerable points whenever it fears danger, and is then so 

 securely locked up in its armour-plates that it is safe from almost every enemy except 

 man. The word Pyxis is Greek, and is very appropriately given to this species, its 

 signification being a box. 



The Pyxis is a pretty, but not a large species. The colour is extremely variable, 

 scarcely any two individuals being precisely alike, but the general colours are yellow and 

 black. On the carapace the plates are marked with a number of radiating triangular 

 spots, and on the plates which edge the shell there are lines of black. Below, the 

 yellow generally takes a more orange tint, and is diversified with black marks round 

 its edge. 



