36 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



of the yellow rings, noticed by Mr. Le Sueur, in the spe- 

 cimen he first discovered on the borders of Lake Erie. The 

 Testudo Ferox, (Trionyx,) is quite abundant, and arrives 

 at a very considerable size. The boys of the village fre- 

 quently take it with the hook and line; being excellent 

 food, it is not uncommon to find it in our little market, 

 which cannot boast of many delicacies. It is said that this 

 animal " is not found in any of the streams which empty 

 immediately into the Atlantic ocean, to the northward of 

 Savannah." This is very remarkable, for they are cer- 

 tainly very abundant in most of the tributaries of the Mis- 

 sissippi, in the Ohio, and in all the streams which flow into 

 this mighty river. Why this animal should have been called 

 the. fierce tortoise, by way of distinction, no one can tell, 

 for they seem less disposed to bite than any of the other 

 species. 



Testudo Clausa, or Carolina, (Cistuda.) I have been 

 quite surprised and disappointed to find, that the land tor- 

 toise, so common throughout the United States, should in 

 our village be a total stranger. I have never seen it in 

 our woods myself, and upon showing one, which ^brought 

 with me from the east of the Alleghanies, to a number of 

 the inhabitants, they declared that it was not to be found 

 in the neighbourhood. I have but little doubt, however, 

 that it may occasionally be seen. I have examined mul- 

 titudes in other places, and will here give the result of my 

 observations. It would be very difficult to describe all the 

 varieties of colour, and markings, found in the different indi- 

 viduals of this Protean species. The predominant colours 

 are, however, yellow and brown. In most instances the 

 number of segments, or pieces which compose the upper 

 shell, are thirteen central, and twenty-five marginal ones; 

 but, in one instance, I found only eleven scutellae on the 

 centre; this remarkable variety is now in the cabinet 

 of the College at Princeton. " The shell is so hard, and 

 the animal so strong, that it can easily walk with a weight 

 of sixty pounds on his back." When surprised, or alarm- 

 ed, he withdraws his head and limbs, and closes the upper 

 and under shells with great muscular force; he thus shuts 

 himself in his castle, where he will often remain for hours 

 in perfect quietude. Many individuals, either through age 

 or corpulence, are unable to withdraw all the parts of 

 the body, and accurately to close the upper and under 

 shell together, and thus avail themselves of this natural 

 defence. Some persons keep these animals in cellars to 

 destroy troublesome insects; but I have found that after 



rather bifid, the other is thin and sharp. Base of the shell near the coller 

 mella very much depressed ; umbilicus very small. Breadth, more than one- 

 fourth of an inch. 



It resembles slightly the H. gularis of Mr. Say, but cannot, I think, be 

 confounded with that small species. 



two or three years confinement, in such situations, they 

 commonly die. I sent a box of our land tortoises, well 

 packed in straw, across the Atlantic, to my friend, J. E. 

 Gray, Esq. of the British Museum, where they all ar- 

 rived, after a voyage of about forty days, in health and 

 safety, and are now living, I understand, in the Zoological 

 Gardens at London. 



The land tortoise, though apparently so unworthy of at- 

 tention, has been for ages the chosen favourite of the cu- 

 rious. Derham, and other writers of eminence, have no- 

 ticed the memorable tortoise introduced into the Arch- 

 episcopal gardens at Lambeth, in the time of Archbishop 

 Laud, where it lived one hundred and twenty years, and at 

 last died, not apparently from the effects of age, but owing 

 to accidental neglect on the part of the gardener. The 

 Rev. Mr. White, in his Natural History of Selbourne, has 

 given a very amusing account of a domestic land tortoise, 

 to which I shall occasionally refer in my account of the 

 manners and private history of our own animal, which 

 follows. The European tortoise, of Archbishop Laud, and 

 of the Rev. Mr. White, is IheT. Graeca, and differs much 

 in its habits from ours. I received a fine large specimen of 

 the Graica, from the Prince of Musignano, now residing 

 near Rome; and have thus had an opportunity of com- 

 paring the two animals. 



About the first of May I confined, in a small enclo- 

 sure near to my office window, an old tortoise, (T.Clmisa,) 

 which had been loitering about the garden for two or three 

 years.* Within the enclosure there was a small box, or 

 house, to shelter him from the sun and rain, and a little 



* The length of my tortoise, from the end of the nose to the extremity of 

 the tail, is exactly eight inches. The breadth of his shell, three inches, and 

 his weight one pound. His upper shell is of an oval form, composed of 

 thirteen scutelte, or middle pieces, and twenty-four marginal ones, with a 

 small elevated oval scale in front ; an elevated ridge running through the 

 middle. The under shell is composed of twelve distinct pieces, and is di- 

 vided nearly in the middle into two parts, joined together by a tough skin. 

 These two pieces are moveable, and when the animal is surprised, these are 

 drawn close to the upper shell. The under shell is of a very pale yellow, 

 with dark lines, where the twelve different pieces meet each other, and the 

 upper one has a ground of pale yellow, with dusky brown marks. The up- 

 per part of the head, which is covered with a hard scaly substance, is of the 

 same colour with the back. The legs, which are surrounded with ovate 

 scales, are of the colour of the under shell, though of a brighter hue. He 

 has five stout curved claws on his fore feet, and but four, having less curva- 

 tures, on his other feet. His tail is about one-third the length of his legs, 

 and is not covered with scales. His skin, on the sides and throat, is yellow- 

 ish, sprinkled with minute bright Vermillion spots ; that part which sur- 

 rounds the neck when extended, envelopes the head when withdrawn. His 

 nostrils are placed above the beak ; and his eyes, which seem to be scarcely 

 moveable in their sockets, are remarkably intelligent. The iris is of a red- 

 dish hazel, and the pupil, which he cannot dilate or contract, is of a shining 

 brown. 



