REPTILIA—TORTOISE...TURTLE. 689 
The eggs of all the tortoise kind, like those of birds, are furnishea with a 
yolk and a white; but the shell is different, being somewhat like those seft 
eggs that hens exclude before their time; however, this shell is much thicker 
and stronger, and is a longer time in coming to maturity in the womb. The 
land tortoise lays but a few in number, if compared to the sea turtle, who 
deposits from a hundred and fifty to two hundred in a season. 
The amount of the land tortoise’s eggs we have not been able to learn; 
but, from the scarceness of the animal, we are apt to think they cannot be 
very numerous. When it prepares to lay, the female scratches a slight de- 
pression in the earth, generally in a warm situation, where the beams of the 
sun have their full effect. There depositing her eggs, and covering them 
with grass and leaves, she forsakes them, to be hatched by the heat of the 
season. The young tortoises are generally excluded in about twenty-six 
days; but, as the heat of the weather assists, or its coldness retards, incu- 
bation, sometimes it happens that there is a difference of two or three days. 
The little animals no sooner leave the egg, than they seek for their provi- 
sion, entirely self-taught; and their shell, with which they are covered from 
the beginning, expands and grows larger with age. As it is composed of a 
variety of pieces, they are all capable of extension at their sutures; and the 
shell admits of increase in every direction. 
It is common enough to take these animals into gardens, as they are 
thought to destroy insects and snails in great abundance. We are even told 
that, in hot countries, they are admitted into a domestic state, as they are 
great destroyers of bugs. ' 
Pe She TORTOISE, Of PUR Tr rt 
As it is now called, is generally found larger than the former. 
THE GREAT MEDITERRANEAN TURTLE? 
Is the largest of the turtle kind with which we are acquainted. It is found 
from five to eight feet long, and from six to nine hundred pounds weight ' 
but, unluckily, its utility bears no proportion to its size, as itis unfit for food 
and sometimes poisons those who eat it. The shell also, which is a tough. 
strong integument, resembling a hide, is unfit for all serviceable purposes. 
1The genus Chelonia has the feet flattened into scaly fins; toes unequal, elongated, 
scaly, and united by a membrane, with very small nails upon their exterior border, term - 
nated by scaly lamine. 
2 Chelonia coriacea, Cuv. 
87 58* 
