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 not 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 hyaena, 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 color, yellow and dark- 

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

 render it undistinguishable ; 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 lid, 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 armor. 



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 armor-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 color is extremely variable, 

 scarcely any two individuals being precisely alike, but the general colors 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. 



