THE TORTOISES. 



•617 



for their performances. The exhibitors possess several Cobras 

 shut up in baskets, and when commencing their performances, the 

 lid of the basket is opened, and 

 the snake creeps out. Its course 

 is arrested by the sound of the 

 rude fife that the charmer always 

 carries, and it immediately ex- 

 pands its beautiful though threat- 

 ening hood, erects its neck, and 

 commences a series of undulatory 

 movements, which are continued 

 until the sound of the fife ceases, 

 when the snake instantly drops, 

 and is replaced in its basket by 

 its master. The charmers appear 

 to be able to discover snakes, and 

 to induce them to leave their 

 retreats. Indeed, it is rather a 

 singular fact, that those travellers who most strongly insist that 

 the snakes thus caught are tame and divested of their fangs, 

 appear to forget that even in that case the creatures must have 

 been previously caught in order to deprive them of their weapons. 

 The length of this snake is about five or six feet. 



Cobra de Gapello. 



III. — THE TO'tTOISES. 



The whole of this order is characterized by the complete 

 Bui: of bony armor with which the aniaiaiS are protected. The 

 so-called " shell" is in fact a development of various bones, and 

 not a mere horny appendage, like the coverings of the armadillo 

 and manis. The upper shield is called the " carapace," and is 

 united to the under shield, or " plastron," by certain bones, leaving 

 orifices for the protrusion of the head and limbs. Most species 

 are able to withdraw their head and limbs completely within the 

 shell, and' in some few the orifices are closed by a kind of hinge 

 joint. The tortoise-shell of commerce is a series of horny plates 

 that cover the exterior of the shield, and is in great request on 



