- EAST AFRICAN TORTOISES. 925 



tlie reptiles. On the 23rd inst. two Bell's Tortoises were on 

 their backs, and this morning another. This is either done in 

 desperation or as a means of defence (24. ii. 22). Nevertheless, 

 twd were dead yesterday ; the two which I had found on their 

 backs, I believe (Kilosa, 26. ii. 22). 



Though there was plenty of grass in their enclosure one of the 

 tortoises was found to be eating hard maize corn : it would pick 

 up one in its jaws five or six times and drop it, then apparently 

 swallowed it whole. Another was found nosing a large yellow 

 carpenter bee {Xylocopa nigrita) and was munching something 

 at the time. One of the hind legs of the bee was missing, and 

 the insect itself was very freshl}'^ dead, having probably fallen 

 from the beams above. I watched the tortoise return again and 

 again to the bee, but it never bit it. One knows the preference 

 of the Greek Tortoise for yellow flowers such as dandelions and 

 buttercups. Isit possible that anything of a yellow colour attracts 

 tortoises ? 



To judge by some of the damaged shells on tortoises which 

 Lave been bi-ought me, these creatures can sustain very severe 

 injui-ies to the carapace and the latter heal up. 



It is the rule rather than tlie exception at Kilosa for Bell's 

 Tortoises to carry some half-dozen ticks {Amhlyomma mar- 

 moreum Koch), each adhering to tke fleshy portions of the hinge 

 of their shells. 



Testudo pardalis Bell. 



Blgr. Cat. Chelonians, 1889, p. 160. 



Thirty-three specimens were collected from Pwaga, Mbonoa, 

 Singida, Mdjengo's, Mtali's, Zengeragusu, Ulugu, Tabora, Simbo, 

 Tambali, Luguo, Wembere, Sanga, Sagayo. 



The Leopard Tortoise is frequently found in grassy steppe 

 country where there are scattered bushes, but it is also commonly 

 met with on kopjes, and often at a surprising height, as in the 

 case of one whose skeleton was found between two sloping rocks 

 at the very top of what was practically a mountain. One wondered 

 how many years it had taken to reach the summit, seeing that 

 the mountain was largely composed of piled-up boulders ; this 

 adventurous individual would appear to have met its death by 

 sliding down the smooth sloping rock and being unable to 

 clamber up again (Mtali's, 9. x. 22). 



At Pwaga, where I was only camped for one afternoon, a local 

 native brought (in addition to the depressed and worn C helliana 

 already referred to) no fewer than five Leopard Tortoises whose 

 depth of shell was in no way less than those inhabiting grassy 

 savannahs, though here they were in the same dense thorn-scrub 

 as C. helliana. The range of sizes wa& so varied that they are 

 worth quoting. The largest tortoise was a male ; the others 

 would appear to be all females. (1) 250 x 150 mm., (2) 130 x 

 85 mm., (3) 88 x 65 mm,, (4) 70 x 56 mm., (5) 47 x 40 mm. 



The largest male collected measured 312x210 mm. broads 



