6 REPTILIA. 



are fixed to the cranium and are immovable ; their tongue is 

 short and bristled with fleshy filaments ; their 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 were all united by Linnaeus in the genus 



Testudo, Lin. 



They have since been divided into five subgenera, chiefly from the 

 forms and teguments of their shell, and of their feet. 



Testudo, Brog.(l) 



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 closely joined as far as the nails, all susceptible of being withdrawn 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 vege- 

 table food. 



T. graeca, L.; Schaepf. pi. viii, ix, is the species most com- 

 mon in Europe; it is found in Greece, Italy, Sardinia, and ap- 

 parently all round the Mediterranean. It is distinguished by 

 its wide and equally arched shell; by its raised scales or plates, 

 which are granulate in the centre, striated on the edges, and 

 marbled with large yellow and black spots; and by its poste- 

 rior 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 



(1) Merrem has changed this name into Chersine. 



