TORTOISE. 24i 



till late. Besides, it retires to rest for every shower, and does 

 not move at all in wet days. * 



When one reflects on the state of this strange being, it is a 

 matter of wonder, to find that Providence should bestow such 

 a profusion of days, such a seeming waste of longevity, on a 

 reptile that appears to relish it so little as to squander more 

 than two-thirds of its existence in a joyless stupor, and be lost 

 to all sensation for months together in the profoundest of 

 slumbers. 



While I was writing this letter, a moist and warm afternoon, 

 with the thermometer at 50, brought forth troops of shell- 

 snails ; and, at the same juncture, the tortoise heaved up the 

 mould and put out its head ; and the next morning came forth, 

 as it were raised from the dead, and walked about till four in 

 the afternoon. This was a curious coincidence a very amu- 

 sing occurrence to see such a similarity of feelings between 

 two <pggso/?co/, for so the Greeks call both the shell-snail and 

 the tortoise. ) 



Summer birds are, this cold and backward spring, unusually 



* Dr Bright mentions that land-tortoises are used as food in Hungary. 

 He says, " In the evening I was taken to see another object of curiosity. 

 the garden kept for the rearing and preservation of land -tortoises. 

 The testudo orbicularis is the species most common about the lake, and 

 the river Szala, which falls into it. Tortoises, likewise, occur in great 

 numbers in various parts of Hungary, more particularly about Fiixes 

 Gyarmath, and the marshes of the river Theiss ; and being deemed a 

 delicacy for the table, are caught and kept in preserves. That of 

 Keszthely encloses about an acre of land, intersected by trenches and 

 ponds, in which the animals feed and enjoy themselves. In one corner 

 was a space separated from the rest by boards two feet high, forming a 

 pen for snails, which here, as well as in Germany, are in request as an 

 article of food. The upper edge of the boards were spiked with nails an 

 inch in height, and at intervals of half an inch, over which, I was assured, 

 these animals never attempt to make their way. This snail, the helix 

 pomatia, is in great demand in Vienna, where sacks of them are regularly 

 exposed for sale in the markets, alternating with sacks of beans, lentils, 

 kidney-beans, and truffles." The helix pomatia is now ranked among the 

 British land snails. It is the largest of our land shells ; is pretty abun- 

 dant in some of the southern counties of England ; and was introduced by 

 the luxurious Romans, during their residence in Britain. ED. 



f* Snail shells remain in a torpid state during the winter, in the holes 

 of walls, in the ground, or under large stones. They, however, sometimes 

 make their appearance in winter, if the weather should be very mild, and 

 particularly in moist or rainy days. These animals have a wonderful 

 faculty of living, for a great length of time, without food. They have 

 been known to exist in a drawer, or box, without nutriment of any kind, 

 for two or three years. ED. 



