TESTUDO. 



and able to walk under tliis heavy load. It is a native of 

 many parts of Nortli America, found chiefly in marfliy 

 liluations, and occafionally in the driell and hotttil places. 

 ]t is principally fought for on accoinil of its eggs, which are 

 reckoned a delicacy. It feeds on fmall animals, as beetles, 

 mice, and even ferpents, wliich it draws into its fliell, and 

 cruflies to death ; and alfo on various vegetable fubllances. 



Palustris. With dcpreifed (hell, five claws on the fore- 

 feet, and four on the hind -feet ; found in the llagnant waters 

 of Jamaica, and feekiug food in the adjoining meadows. 

 This is the T. terrapin of Schospf, and the T. conccntrica 

 of other writers, with fub-depreffcJ, fub-carinated, oval 

 yellow Ihell, with the fcutella marked by concentric brown 

 zones. The fliell meafuros from four to fix inches, or 

 more. It is a native of North America, and fold in the 

 markets at Philadelphia, and elfewhere, under the name of 

 " Terrapin," which name is indifcriminately applied in 

 America to feveral other fpecies. It is common, as we have 

 already faid, in Jamaica, and firil defcribed by Dr. Browne, 

 in bis " Hiilory of Jamaica," who fays it is a wholefome 

 and even delicate food. In the Leverian Mufeum there is a 

 large and beautiful fpecimen of the fhell of this fpecies. 

 Shaw. 



Caspica. With orbicular fliell, fcaly head, five claws 

 on the fore-feet, four on the hind, and naked tail. Gmelin 

 reprefents it as a native of Hircania, inhabiting frefli waters, 

 aud fometimes growing to a vaft fize. The pieces com- 

 pofing the din< are fub-quadrate ; thofe of the border 

 parallelogrammic ; the colour variegated with black and 

 green ; the lower fliell blackifli, (potted with white. 

 Clausa. See T. Carolina, fupra. 

 Pensylvanica. Tortoife, according to Schoepf, with 

 fmooth, elliptic, brown fliell, with flattilh back, the middle 

 range of fcutella fub-rhomboid and fub-imbricated, the firfl; 

 fub-triangular ; and according to Gmelin, with five claws 

 on the fore-feet and four on the liind, and the apex of the 

 tail horny and acute. This is the fmall mud tortoife of 

 Edwards ; the fliell meafuring three or four inches in length. 

 The head on tlie parts furrounding the jaws and eyes is of a 

 reddifli-yellow colour ; the upper part, as well as the neck, 

 legs, and tail, dufliy ; feet webbed ; the tail fmall. It 

 is a native of North America, and is found in Pennfylvania, 

 &c. inhabiting muddy waters. When living, it is faid to 

 exhale a ftrong mulky odour. Mr. Schcepf mentions a 

 variety, and another occurs in the Leverian Mufeum 

 Shaw. 



Serpentina. The fnake tortoife, charafterifed by 

 Schoepf as having an ovate, depreffed, triply carinated, 

 (harp-fcaled fliell, rounded and acutely ferrated at the poltc- 

 rior margin ; and by Gmelin as having digitated feet, fub- 

 carinated fliell, behind obtufe, and. acutely quindentated. 

 This is the ferrated tortoife of Pennant. It is a native of 

 North America, inhabiting fiagnant waters, growing to the 

 weight of fifteen or twenty pounds, or more, preying on 

 fifli, ducklings, &c. feizing its prey with gi-eat force, and at 

 the fame time ftretching out its neck, and hifling at the 

 fame time. The head is large, dep'-efled, triangular, and 

 covered with a fcaly and warty flcin ; the orbits of the eyes 

 are oblique ; the mouth wide ; the mandibles ftiarp ; the 

 neck covered by fcaly warts ; the toes diftinft ; the tail 

 ftraight, and about two-thirds the length oi the fliell ; and tlie 

 tinder part of the body covered by a loofc, wrinkled (Icin, 

 befet with Imallifli foft fcales and granules. This animal 

 conceals itfelf in muddy water, leaving out only a part of its 

 back, and thus appearing to be a ft^one or other inanimate 

 objeft, more eafily obtains its prey. In New York it is 

 known by the title of the "fnapping tortoife." 

 SpEJiiGLERi. See T. Serrata, infra. 



FiMBRiATA. Tortoife, according to Bruguiere, with 

 oval, fub-coiivcx, triply carin.ited fiiell, fub-digitatcd feet, 

 cylindric (nout, and neck fimbriated on each fide. This b 

 an animal of very fingular and difagreeable appearance. 

 The fliell is about fifteen inches or more in K ngth, and its 

 breadth eleven ; but the whole animal, from the nofe to the 

 end of the tail, is two feet three inches. The head ii> large 

 and flat, rounded in front, and edged on tile fides with 

 warty and wrinkled membranaceous appendages, about five- 

 inches wide, and covered behind by a ihree-lobed promi- 

 nence ; the nofe refcmblcs a probofcis, cylindric, ten line* 

 long, truncated, pierced by the iioftirils, M the tip, where they 

 are feparated by a cartilaginous divifion ; the eyes arc round, 

 fcated at the bafe of the probofcis, and ten lines diftant from 

 each other ; the mandibles are equal in length, and entire ; 

 the gape of the mouth is wide ; the neck fcven inches long, 

 and four and a half broad ; above flat and warted, and 

 furniflied on each fide with fix fimbriated membranaceous 

 appendages difpofed lengtliwife, and alternately larger and 

 fmallcr ; the under part of the neck is Ijefet with four fimi- 

 lar appendages, placed oppofite to the two on the head, and 

 increafed by two longitudinal wrinkles : the fore-feet are 

 fcaly and warty, having five indiftinft toes, with as many 

 longifli fliarp claws, convex above and flat beneath ; the hind- 

 feet are alfo fcaly, with Icfs diftinft toes, having four claws, 

 the fifth toe being unarmed, and very fliort : the tail is au 

 inch long,bcntflightly,and covered with a granulated flcin ; all 

 the thirteen femicircular pieces, of which the fliell confifts, 

 arc wrinkled and irregularly notched at the hind part ; the 

 twenty-five marginal pieces are almoft fquare, radiated on tlie 

 furface with oWique wrinkles, and toothed in the interior 

 edge. The colour of the whole is brown, fomewhat paler 

 beneath. This animal is faid to be a native of Guiana, but is 

 now rare in the rivers of Cayenne, as it has been plentifully 

 taken by fifliermen, it being confidered as excellent food. 

 It feeds on aquatic plants, and wanders by night to fome 

 dillance in fearch of pailure. It has been fuggefted, but 

 without certainty, that this is the T. fcorpioides of Linnseus. 

 Shaw. 



PiCTA. Tortoife with plane fliell, marked on both fides 

 with a double fpot of a black-blueifli colour ; fcutella fur- 

 rounded with a yellow margin, and neck ftj-iated longi- 

 tudinally with yellow and black ; or tortoife with oblong, 

 flightly convex, fmooth, brown fliell, with the fcutella bor- 

 dered with yellow. This is the cinereous tortoife of 

 Brown's Zoology, and fufficiently diftinguiflied from all 

 others by the remarkable colours of the fhield. This is a 

 frefli-water fpecies, and inhabits flow and deep rivers in 

 North America, and ftiould have been referred by Gmelin 

 to his fecond clafs. In clear funny weather thefe animals 

 are faid to atfemble in multitudes, fitting on the fallen 

 trunks of trees, ftones, &c. and immediately plunging into 

 the water on the leaft: difl.urbance. They are faid to fwim 

 very fwiftly, but to walk flowly ; to be able to continue 

 many hours entirely beneath the watfr, but not to furvive 

 many days if kept out of their favourite element. They 

 are very voracious, deftroying duckhngs, &c. which they 

 feize by the feet, and drag under water. They are fome- 

 times uled as a food. The colour, as has been above ob- 

 ferved, varies ; being fometimes of a blackifli-browu, at 

 other times of a reddifli-chefnut : the yellow markings arc 

 alfo either pale or deep in different individuals, and fometimes 

 whitifli ; the inferior, or under edges of the upper fliell, as 

 well as the upper edges, or comniiflures of the lower, are 

 elegantly flreaked vidth black, as if artificially painted, and 

 this variegation is continued over the /kin of the fides of the 

 body. Shaw. 

 GyrxAXA. Tortoife ("potted, with oblong, moderately 

 3 E 2 convex, 



