340 
light-coloured body, which, together with 
the absence of dark markings, distinguish it 
from the other oryxes as markedly as do its 
curved horns. It inhabits the interior of 
North Africa, and, though a stock flourished 
for many years in the London Zoological 
Gardens, specimens seem to be rare in collec- 
tions nowadays, even the British Museum 
not possessing a perfect skin in 1900. 
Vy / 
THE second qualifying adjective applied to 
this tortoise used formerly to 
be spelt “grieved” on the 
Society's tickets, but this error 
has now been set right and the proper 
Large Greaved 
Tortoise. 
6c 
word, which refers 
to the greaves or 
armour-plating of 
the legs, substituted. 
The poor tortoise, if 
it considered the lot 
of its species, would 
have a good deal to 
be grieved about 
nowadays, for perse- 
cution has cruelly 
thinned the numbers 
of this most useful 
creature in its native 
Amazons. Podoc- 
nenus expansa, as 
this tortoise is scien- 
tifically called, is the 
“turtle” of Ama- ae 
AOU VOVACETS, wl =" CW Ws a Dumeley 1% 
testify to its great 
excellence as an article of food. But the 
abundance which Bates found in his memor- 
able voyage will be a thing of the past, as 
he found that the turtles were diminishing. 
The latest accounts state that the wasteful 
destruction of the eggs for making oil— 
which could be got just as well from the 
tortoises themselves—still continues, although 
no less than three thousand eggs must be 
sacrificed to make twenty-four pounds of 
oul. The animal illustrated is quite a baby 
one, the adult greaved tortoise having a fair 
claim to the title “large,” since it reaches a 
yard in length and will provide three days’ 
meals for a family of six. 
JS. 
BABY LARGE GREAVED TORTOISE. 
Animal! Life 
THE Glass-Snake, like our Blind-Worm, is 
really a snake-like lizard, and 
Glass-Snake. a close inspection of the head 
will show that this is still 
thoroughly lizard-like, and will easily dis- 
tinguish Ophisawrus apus from a real snake. 
The glass-snake grows to more than a yard 
in length, but two-thirds of this is tail. As 
in its relative the blind-worm (Angwis 
fragilis), this tail is very brittle, a character 
common to many lizards. The food of our 
present subject consists of various small 
animals, from snails and insects to young 
birds and vipers. 
whole like a snake, 
These it does not gorge 
but chews up and 
swallows piecemeal. 
Although a good 
biter, it is said not 
to use its Jaws when 
caught. Itis found in 
South-East Europe, 
Asia Minor and 
Morocco, where it 
frequents bushy 
localities. It may be 
here mentioned that 
one conspicuous 
difference between 
these snake-like 
lizards and snakes 
is the possession of 
distinct eyelids by 
the former. Them 
eyes, Indeed, are like 
those of ordinary 
lizards, and the name 
“blind-worm” seems not to refer so much 
to supposed blindness as to the harmlessness 
of the creature, on the same principle as 
the dead-nettle is sometimes called the 
“Dlind” nettle. The word “worm,” of 
course, anciently included all  snake-like 
creatures. 
a 
ON a later page (858, e¢ seq.) reference has been 
White-spotted made to certain blind and bur- 
Burrowing rowing mammals. The mani- 
Snake. fold advantages offered by such 
a mode of life Gf we exclude its apparent 
dulness), as exemplified by security from 
foes and an abundant supply of food, have 
