CHAP. XXXVI.] LAND TORTOISES. 293 



dimensions of some of the trilobites of the genus 

 Isoteles, the most perfect specimen being eight inches 

 long, and many large fragments of other individuals 

 indicating a length of not less than eighteen or 

 twenty inches. 



In Mr. Clark s garden were several land-tortoises 

 ( Testudo clausa, Say), which had lived there for ten 

 years ; and, after a hybernation of some months, had 

 just re-appeared. They were crawling about in 

 search of snails, but will also eat strawberries and 

 meat, both raw and cooked. They grow very slowly ; 

 the largest are eight inches long, and some of the 

 young ones not bigger than a half-crown piece. Mr. 

 Clark tells me, that the female lays four eggs, and 

 digs a hole for them in the ground, hollowing it out 

 with her hind feet to the depth of four inches, and 

 shaping it so that it enlarges below. After being 

 occupied for about a week in this excavation, she 

 deposits the eggs and fills up the hole with earth, 

 beating it down with her hind feet to make it firm. 



o 



The spot is well concealed by a covering of soil two 

 inches thick, which does not prevent the sun s heat 

 from hatching the eggs as the summer advances. 



In one of the cabinets of Ohio insects, I saw 

 specimens of that common English butterfly, Vanessa 

 atalanta, or &quot;red admirable,&quot; which I had observed, 

 in the winter, flying about in the woods of Alabama. 

 I could not distinguish it from the European species, 

 yet Mr. Doubleday, the entomologist of the British 

 Museum, at once recognised all I showed him as 

 American specimens ; for there is a minute, but con- 



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