324 ORDERS OF KEPTILES— TORTOISES, TERRAPINS AND TURTLES 



The following is a common-sense grouping of 

 the members of the Order Chelonia, as found in 

 North America and the seas adjacent : 



3 inches, with a height of shell of 20 inches, was 

 estimated to be 400 years old ! Its age was esti- 

 mated by comparison with other Giant Tor- 



SYNOPSIS OF THE ORDER OF TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 



SUBORDERS. 



LAND TOR- 

 TOISES: 



FAMILIES. 



EXAMPLES. 



Common Tortoises, / 



TES- TV-DIN' I-DAE. 



a 



- 

 B 



Box Tortoises, 1 ( 



i KIN-O-STER'NI-DAE, 

 I E-MYD'I-. 



Smooth-Shelled 

 Terrapins, 



-DAE, 



FRESH-WATER 

 TERRAPINS: 



Snapping Terrapins, che-ly'dri-dae. 



( Giant Tortoise. 

 • ■; Gopher Tortoise. 

 ( Common Box Tortoise. 



. Musk-Terrapin. 



( Painted Terrapin. 

 ■ < Wood-Terrapin. 

 ( Diamond-Back. 



( Alligator-Terrapin. 

 I Snapping Terrapin. 



Soft-Shelled Ter- 



, RAPINS, 



I", 



TRI-O-NYCH' I-DAE, . . Soft-Shelled Terrapin. 



SEA-TURTLES 



Hard-Shelled, 



CHE-LON'I-DAE, 



! Hawksbill. 

 ( Green Turtle. 

 ( Leathery-Shelled, DER-mo-CHE-LYD'I-DAE, Harp-Turtle. 



THE TORTOISE FAMILY. 



Testudinidae. 



The group of tortoises contains many species 

 that are either beautiful, or curious, or remark- 

 able for their size and age. Quite a number of 

 species are handsomely colored, but the majority 

 are perfectly plain. 



Two distinct types have been developed. The 

 ordinary, thick-shelled, uncolored tortoises, some 

 of them of great size, constitute the majority of 

 the species. The smaller section is made up of 

 small tortoises, some of which have a practical 

 hinge in the centre of the lower shell. These are 

 strictly land-going animals, and some of them 

 even burrow in the earth, in sandy situations 

 where digging is easy. 



The Giant Tortoise 2 is a good species to lead 

 this entire Order. If there be aught in the theory 

 of "the survival of the fittest," then this creature 

 is clearly entitled to the leading position. A 

 specimen at the New York Zoological Park, 

 which weighed 310 pounds, and whose shell 

 measured on its curves 4 feet 7J inches by 4 feet 



1 By some authorities on the classification of reptiles, the Box Tortoises are placed in the Family Kino- 

 sternidae, one of the divisions of the Fresh- Water Terrapins. If this arrangement should be followed, it 

 would take the Box Tortoises out of the group of Land Tortoises, where they really belong. With this 

 explanation the author elects to preserve the very useful arrangement into land, fresh-water and marine 

 groups, as set forth above, and leave the Box Tortoises in the Family Testudinidw. 



2 Tes-tu'do vi-ci'na. 



toises which, according to authentic history, 

 have been in captivity over 100 years. 



This wonderful creature lived all save the last 

 two years of its life on the Galapagos Islands, a 

 group of burnt-out volcanoes, and mountains of 

 rock covered with brush, cacti and lava, directly 

 on the equator, 500 miles west of Ecuador. Six 

 species of Giant Tortoises inhabit that archipel- 

 ago, living chiefly upon cacti and coarse grass, 

 but all of them are now being exterminated at a 

 very rapid rate either for the paltry amount of oil 

 they contain, or a few pounds of meat from each. 

 An ignorant cattle-herder thinks nothing of kill- 

 ing a Tortoise 300 years old for three pounds of 

 meat, nothing more! In the interests of science, 

 and her own reputation, Ecuador should pro- 

 hibit henceforth the wanton and wasteful killing 

 of those remarkable creatures. 



With the exception of the crocodilians, the 

 Giant Tortoises inhabiting the Galapagos Islands, 

 and two islands in the Indian Ocean, are the only 

 survivors of the famous reptilian age, when a 

 warm atmosphere heavily charged with moisture 

 called forth luxuriant vegetation, which nour- 



