400 NATURAL HISTORY. 



shield, and is in great request on account of the beautiful wavy 

 markings that are so familiar to our eyes. 



The Tortoises and Turtles possess no teeth, but the sides of 

 their jaws are very hard and sharp, enabling them to crop 

 vegetable substances, or to inflict a severe bite. 



The family is divided into Land Tortoises, Marsh Tortoises, 

 River Tortoises, and Marine Tortoises, or Turtles. 



The COMMON LAND TORTOISE is found in abundance in the 

 south of Europe. It is often kept in captivity in this country, 

 and is very long lived, individuals being known to have ex- 

 ceeded two hundred years. Its movements are very slow, but 

 it can excavate a burrow with unexpected rapidity. Secure 

 in an impenetrable covering, it bids defiance to any ordinary 

 enemy, except, as Sidney Smith wittily observes, "man and the 

 boa-constrictor. Man, however, takes him home and roasts 

 him, and the boa-constrictor swallows him whole, shell and 

 all, and consumes him slowly in the interior, as the Court cf 

 Chancery docs a great estate." 



THE COMMON GREEN TURTLE. 



The feet of the MARINE TORTOISES, or TURTLES, are modi- 

 fied into fins or nippers, just as are the feet of the seals, and 

 consequently, although the Turtles are active in the water, 

 on land their walk is nothing but an awkward shuffle. The 

 flippers, however, are admirable instruments for scooping out 

 the sand, in which the eggs are laid, and afterwards covered 

 over. Nearly two hundred eggs are laid in one nest. The 

 eggs are held in great estimation, but the albumen, or " white," 

 does not become hard by boiling. 



The COMMON GREEN TURTLE, whose flesh is considered 

 such a luxury, is common in Jamaica, and most of the islands 

 of the East and West Indies. The Turtles are captured 

 by turning them on their backs, for the carapace is so flat, 

 and their legs are so short, that they are forced to lie help- 

 less until their captors have leisure to drag them away. 



