34 THE KEPTILES OF EGYPT. 
in one and the same species, and he is inclined to explain the existence of a broad 
alveolar surface, in animals externally identical with those having a narrow surface, by 
the nature of their food. He maintains that a broad alveolar surface is associated with a 
conchifragous diet, and a narrow alveolar surface and sharp beak with an ichthyophagous 
diet ; but, at the same time, Mr. Boulenger points out that the final solution of this 
most interesting problem rests with those who can observe the animals in nature. In 
view of this suggestion, it may be mentioned that there could be no better river for 
conducting such observations than the Nile, where the two types of skull are so well 
represented. 
This species occurs in some of the rivers of Syria, throughout the Nile and its 
tributaries, and in the river systems of Africa, from Somaliland to Senegambia. 
The Arabic name of this turtle is ,)UuV=:terseh. 
The turtle was not a sacred animal to the Egyptians, and the representations of 
it are rare. The conventional figure which Egyptologists regard as representing a 
tortoise seems to me rather to suggest a freshwater turtle. The body of the supposed 
chelonian hieroglyph is a depressed oval, and the neck is very long — two features 
which, while distinctive of the Nile turtle (T. triunguis), are in no way characteristic 
of any African land-tortoise. Figures of this kind are met with in the ' Book of the 
Dead,' and in a number of inscriptions, e. g. on the outside of the beautiful inner 
coffin of Nesi Pa-Ur Shef, of the XVIIIth Dynasty, preserved in the Fitzwilliam 
Museum, Cambridge \ and in an inscription at Kom Ombos reproduced by Bosellini 2 . 
The cemeteries of the New Race of Men at Naquada and Ballas, already referred 
to, contained the body in a contracted position on the floor of the grave. Along with 
the body were stone vases and vessels of pottery of various kinds, that had doubtless 
contained food for the deceased. Before the face of each skeleton there generally 
lay a slate palette, and, in some cases, more than one. These slates bore greenish 
stains, and parts of them were worn into hollows. By their sides lay one to four smooth 
pebbles, also stained with the same colour, and, associated with them, were found 
shells and little bags filled with ground green malachite, and chips of the unground 
material. Professor Petrie and Mr. Quibell's explanation of their occurrence is 
that the new race had adopted the custom in vogue among the early Egyptians of 
painting the area around the eyes green. The interest attached to the discovery of 
these implements of the toilet from a zoological standpoint is that many of the 
palettes are fashioned in the form of the turtle of the Nile. 
1 Budge (E. A. W.), Cat. Egypt. Coll. 1893. Since the above was written, Dr. Budge has shown to me, 
on the inside of the coffin (jS'o. 6678 B.M.) of Heru-nefc Atef, a priest of Amen Ka, dating from 500 to 
350 B.C., two characteristic representations of the turtle. 
- Mon. Egitto e della Nubia, 1832, vol. iii. pi. xxxix. 
