S28 



V E R T E B E A T E S . 



Land TortoiBe. 



account of the beautiful wa'^ markings that ait so familiar to oui 

 eyes. 



The Tortoises and Turtles possess no teeth, but the sides 

 of their jaws are very hard and sharp, enabling them to crop 

 vegetable substances, or to inflict a severe bite. The family ia 

 divided into Land Tortoises, Marsh Tortoises, 

 Kiver Tortoises, and Marine Tortoises, or 

 Turtles. 



The Common Land Tortoise is 

 found in abundance in almost every country, 

 — in the wilds of America, as well as in the 

 most thickly populated states of Europe. 

 It is very long lived, individuals being 

 known to have exceeded two hundred years. 

 Its movements are very slow, but it can ex- 

 cavate a burrow with unexpected rapidity. 

 Secure in an impenetrable covering, it bids 

 defiance to any ordinary enemy, except, as Sidney Smith wittily 

 observes, " man and the boa-constrictor. Man, however, takes him 

 home and roasts him, and the boarconstrictor swallows him whole, 

 shell and all, and consumes him slowly in the interior." 



The Common G-reen Turtle. — Tl^e feet of the Marine 

 Tortoises, or Turtles, are modified into fins or flippers just as are 



the feet of the seals, and conse- 

 quently, although the Turtles are 

 active in the water, on land their 

 walk is nothing but an awkward 

 shuffle. The flippers, however, 

 are admirable instruments for 

 scooping out the sand, in which 

 the eggs are laid, and afterwards covered over. Nearly two hun- 

 dred eggs are laid in one nest. The eggs are held in great esti- 

 mation, but the albumen, or " white," does not become hard by 

 boiling. 



The Common Green Turtle, whose flesh is considered such 

 a luxury, is 'K)mmon in Jamaica, and most of the islands of the 



Qreen Turtle. 



