TORTOISES. 5 



stomach simple and strong; their intestines of a moderate length, and 

 destitute of a caecum. Their bladder is very large. 



The penis of the male is simple and large, and the eggs laid by the 

 female are invested with a hard shell. The former is frequently known 

 by its exterior from the concavity of its sternum. 



They possess great tenacity of life, — and instances are on record, in 

 which they have been seen to move for several weeks after losing their 

 head. They require but little nourishment, and can pass whole months, 

 and even years, without eating. 



The Chelonia, which were all united by Linnaeus in the genus 



Testudo, Lin., 



Have since been divided into five subgenera, chiefly from the forms and 

 teguments of their shell, and of their feet. 



1. Land Tortoises. — Testudo*, Brog. 



The land Tortoises have the shell arched and supported by a solid, 

 bony frame, most of its lateral edges being soldered to the sternum; the 

 legs, as if truncated, with very short toes, which are closely joined as far 

 as the nails, all susceptible of being withdrawn between the bucklers; 

 there are five nails to the fore-feet, the hind ones have four, all stout and 

 conical. Several species live on vegetable food. 



T. grceca, L. ; Schcepf. pi. viii, ix, is the species most common in 

 Europe; it is found in Greece, Italy, Sardinia, and apparently all 

 round the Mediterranean. It is distinguished by its wide and 

 equally arched shell ; by its raised scales or plates, which are gra- 

 nulate in the centre, striated on the edges, and marbled with large 

 yellow and black spots; and by its posterior edge in the middle, of 

 which there is a prominence slightly bent over the tail. It rarely 

 attains the length of a foot, lives on leaves, fruit, insects, and 

 worms, excavates a hole in which it passes the winter, and breeds in 

 the spring, laying four or five eggs similar to those of a Pigeon. 



Among the species foreign to Europe, there are several from the East 

 Jndies, of an enormous size, and three feet, and upwards, in length. One 

 of them in particular has been called the 



Test, indica, Vosm. ; Schcepf. Tort. pi. xxii. (The Indian Tor- 

 toise). Its shell is compressed in front, and its anterior edge is 

 turned up above the head. Its colour is a deep brown. 



Some of them are remarkable for the beautiful distribution of their 

 colours; such are 



T. geometrica,L.; Lacep. I, ix; Schcepf. x. (The Geometrica ). 

 A small tortoise, each plate of whose shell is regularly ornamented 

 with yellow lines, radiating from a disk of the same colour. 



T. radiata, Shaw, Gen. Zool. Ill, pi. ii; and Daud. II, xxvi. 



* Merrem has changed this name into Chersine. 



