THE TORTOISES 



335 



ished a marvellous series of gigantic reptilian 

 forms. Beside some of these extinct creatures 

 our largest reptiles are mere pygmies, and to-day 

 they are equalled in bulk only by the rhinoce- 

 ros, hippopotamus, elephant, and whale. The 

 great Brontosaurus, whose fossil remains were 

 found in the bad-lands of Wyoming, was sixty 

 feet long, and some of the great Dinosaurs, or 

 kangaroo-like lizards, stood over thirty feet in 

 height ! 



Beside the Giant Tortoises, our Gopher Tor- 

 toise,! the largest aUied species of tortoise we 

 possess, seems insignificantly small. The largest 

 specimens weigh only fifteen pounds. This 



Excepting these and similar forms, the small 

 Chelonians find refuge from danger in the watery 

 depths of the ponds and streams they inhabit. 

 The Box Tortoise, however, formed for life on 

 land, is so small it has required a special inven- 

 tion for its protection. 



Its shell is high, and contains sufficient room 

 to permit the head, legs and tail to be fully with- 

 drawn within it. Across the centre of the lower 

 shell, or plastron, a practical double hinge has 

 been provided. Thus, in time of danger, the 

 animal completely withdraws its head, legs and 

 tail, at both ends it draws the lower shell tightly 

 against the upper, and all the soft parts are en- 



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SS^. ^^\% -'1-'% 



BOX TORTOISES. 



species is found from South Carolina to Florida, 

 and westward to Texas. It has a very thick and 

 strong shell, and burrows in the earth of the 

 sandy pine-forests in which it lives. Its shell is 

 smooth, and unmarked by bright colors, and its 

 flesh is palatable food. 



The Box Tortoise^ is, to my mind, one of the 

 small wonders of Nature, the special purpose of 

 which is to point out how far "specialization" 

 can go in fitting an animal to survive. After 

 all, the most interesting things about animals 

 are tlie lessons they teach bearing upon the devel- 

 opment of the world and its inhabitants. 



' Tes-tu'do pol-y-phe'mus. 

 2 Cis-tu'do Carolina. 



tirely out of reach, behind strong walls of bone. 

 The h)ox of bone is as tightly closed at all points 

 as a strongly made cigar-box with the cover 

 nailed down. 



The Box Tortoise is an illustration of the fact 

 that several species of tortoises are quite hand- 

 somely colored, in geometric patterns of black 

 or red lines, on lighter ground-colors. A repre- 

 sentative specimen of tliis species is covered with 

 an open fret-work of black bands laid in a me- 

 chanical pattern on a lemon-yellow ground-color. 

 North of the range of the gopher tortoise, the 

 Box Tortoise is our only genuine tortoise, — living 

 only upon land, and never inhabiting water. It 

 is common all around New York City, and is 



