NILE CROCODILE. 



CHAPTER V 



Some Ethiopian Reptiles, Fishes, and Invertebrates 



To give anything like an adequate account of the reptiles, frogs, fishes, and 

 invertebrates of Ethiopian Africa would demand, at least, as much space as that 

 contained in the whole of the present volume. In the present chapter all that can 

 be attempted is a brief notice of a few — a very few — of some of the more interest- 

 ing types. 



So far as the number of species is concerned, the Ethiopian region 

 is by no means rich in reptiles. In addition to the Nile species, to 

 which reference has been made in Chapter I., crocodiles are represented by the long- 

 snouted Grocodilus johnstoni of the west coast, while a second and short-muzzled 

 species from the same region is referred to a special genus, of which it is the only 

 member, under the name of Osteolcemus tetraspis. 



The largest African land-tortoise is the greaved Testudo calcarata of the 

 Sudan and adjacent districts. In a specimen from the Sudan in the British 

 Museum the upper shell measures 35 in. in length over the curve and 29 in. in a 

 straight line. Seeing that this species grows to such large dimensions, it is not 

 correct to state that living giant land-tortoises are confined to the Mascarene and 

 Galapagos Islands. The African species differs, however, from those inhabiting 

 these islands by its brown, instead of black, colour : this difference being due, no 

 doubt, to its desert surroundings. 



Very characteristic of southern Africa is the presence of a large number of 

 species of land-tortoises, and among these many are characterised by the shell 

 being raised into prominences or bosses from which radiate yellow lines on a black 



ground, forming patterns of varying complexity. Testudo radiata is a well-known 



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