TESTUDO. 



cOBvex. fmootli, brown (hc-U, wi* fcattcred yellow fpots. 

 This is T. pundala of Schtcpf. It is a rather imall 

 fpecies, and a native of North America, inhabiting rivers 

 and lakes. Tlie young arc fcareely larger than pigeon s 

 eggs, and arc very black, beautifuHy fpotted with gold 



colour. ■ . r r. l_ 



LoN'GlCOLLls ; Long-necked Tortoife. Smooth, ovate, 

 with extremely long neck. This fpecies is a native of New 

 Holland, and is of the river or frefii-water kind. The 

 colour of the whole animal above is deep olive-brown ; 

 beneath paler, and inchning to whitirti. Shaw. 

 C. Land tortoiffs, nvith clavated unguicttJaled feet, convex 

 Jhdl, and bony commijfuris joined with the Jlernum. 



DENTlcur.ATA. Tortoife with fub-digitated feet, and or- 

 bicularly-cordated (liell, with denticulated marginal feg- 

 ments. ' The (hell is of a pale yellowifh-brown colour, about 

 four inches long and three broad, covered on the difk by 

 broad hexagonal' and pentagonal fcutella, of a flattened form, 

 with a large dillinft middle fpace, granulated by fmall tu- 

 bercles, and the remainder marked by five lines or furrows. 

 The edge of the (hell confifts of twenty-three pieces, projetl- 

 ip.g in a'ferrated manner round the outline. It is fuppofed to 

 be a native of North America. The feet, in Gmelin's edi- 

 tion of the Syftema Natura:, are faid to be without dillinft 

 toes ; and the tail (liort. 



Gr-^ta. The common land tortoife, with fub-digitated 

 feet, hinder pait of the (hell gibbous, lateral margin very 

 obtiife, and fcutella flattilh. Gmelin. 



It is defcribed by others as the tortoife with hemifpheric 

 black and yellow (hell, gibbous behind ; the pieces com- 

 pofing the diflv convex, and the fides obtufe. This tortoife 

 is fuppofed to be a native of almoft all the countries bor- 

 dering on the Mediterranean fea, and to be more frequent 

 in Greece than in other regions. It is found in the Euro- 

 pean Archipelago iflands, and in Corfica and Sardinia, and 

 alfo in many parts of Africa. In Greece it is an aiticle of 

 food ; the eggs are eaten boiled, and the blood is often 

 fwallowed recent. In September the animal hides itfelf 

 under ground, and emerges in February : it lays its eggs in 

 .Tune, in a fmall hole on a funny fpot, out of which, after the 

 tirft rains of September, the young are hatched. In Eng- 

 land it retires about the end of Oftobcr, and re-appears 

 about the middle of April ; but thefe feafons vary with the 

 climate and weather, &c. The males often fight, butting 

 at each other with a noife that may be heard at a con- 

 fiderable diftance. This animal lives to a moft extraordinary 

 age, exceeding the period of even a century. 



One of the moft remarkable inftances is that of a tortoife 

 introduced into the archiepifcopal garden at Lambeth, in 

 the time of archbidiop Laud, and as near as can be col- 

 lefted from its hii^ory, about the year 1633, which con- 

 tinued to liv? there till the year 1753, when it was fuppofed 

 to have peri(hed rather from accidental negleft on the part 

 of the gardener, than from the mere effcfl of age. This 

 tortoife has had the honour of being commemorated by 

 Derham, and many other writers, and its (hell is preferved 

 in the library of the palace at Lambeth. 



The general manners of the tortoife, in a ftate of domefti- 

 cation in this country, are very agreeably detailed by Mr. 

 White, in his Hiftory of Selbourn. "Aland tortoife," 

 fays Mr. White, " which has been kept thirty years in a 

 little walled court, retires under ground about the middle of 

 November, and comes forth again about the middle of April. 

 When it flr(t appears in the fpring, it difcovers very little 

 inclination for food, but in the lieight of fummer grows vo- 

 racious ; and then, as the fummer declines, its appetite alfo de- 

 clines ; fo that for the lail weeks in autumn it hardly eats 



at all. Milky plants, fuch a.s lettuces, dandelions, fovr» 

 thirties, &c. are its principal food, 



" Tlie tortoife is totally a diurnal animal, and never ftirs 

 after it becomes dark. The tortoife," adds Mr. White, 

 " like other reptiles, has an arbitrary ftomach, as well as 

 lungs, and can refrain from eating, as well as breathing, for 

 a great p;urt of the year. I was much taken with its faga- 

 city, in difcerning thofe that do it kind offices ; for as foon 

 as the good old lady comes in fight who lias waited on it for 

 more than thirty years, it hobbles towards its bcnefaftrefs 

 with awkward alacrity ; but remains inattentive to llrangers. 

 Thus, not only ' the ox knoweth his owner, and the als his 

 matter's crib,' but the moft abjeft and torpid of beings dif- 

 tinguifhes the hand that feeds it, and is touched with the feel- 

 ings of gratitude. This creature not only goes under the 

 earth from the middle of November to the middle of April, 

 but (leeps great part of the fummer ; for it goes to bed in 

 the longoft days at four in the afternoon, and often does not 

 ftir in tlie morning till late. Befides, it retires to reft for 

 every fhower, and does not move at all in wet days. When 

 one reflects on the Hate of this ftrange being, it is a matter 

 of wonder that Providence fhould beftow fuch a feeming 

 wafte of longevity on a reptile that appears to relifli it fo 

 little as to fquander away more than two-thirds of its exift- 

 ence in a joylefs ftupor, and be loft to all fenfation for 

 months together in the profoundeft of all (lumbers ! Though 

 he loves warm weather, he avoids the hot fun ; becaufe his 

 thick fhell, when once heated, would, as the poet fays of 

 folid ai-mour, ' fcald with fafety.' He therefore fpends 

 the more fultry hours under the umbrella of a large cabbage 

 leaf, or amid the waving forefts of an afparagus bed. But 

 as he avoids heat in the fummer, fo in the decline of the 

 year he improves the faint autumnal beams, by getting 

 within the refleftion of a fruit-tree wall ; and though he has 

 never read that planes inclining to the horizon receive a 

 greater (liare of warmth, he inclines his ftiell by tilting it 

 againft the wall, to colleft and admit every feeble ray." 



The tortoife is faid to be more tenacious of life than any- 

 other of the ampliibia ; many experiments performed upon 

 them by Redi, of a cruel nature, fuch as opening their 

 (liells, taking out the brain, cutting o(F the head, evince their 

 tenacioufnels of life, and that the vital principle is very- 

 (lowly difcharged from thefe animals. Shaw. 



Carinata. Tortoife with digitated feet, and gibbous 

 fliell, with the four firft dorfal fcutella carinated, and entire 

 fternum : found in warm regions, but very little known, 



Geometrica. Shell ovated, with all the elevated fcu- 

 tella above plane, marked with yellow ftrix ilTuing from the 

 centre in 'form of a ftar : or, according to others, this is the 

 tortoife with ovate black fhell, and elevated fcutella radiated 

 with yellow ; the T. teflelata minor of Ray. The pieces of 

 which the dific of the (hell confifts are very prominent, ftriated, 

 or furrowed pretty diftintlly with numerous lines on their fides,, 

 and terminated above by a yellowi(h, flat, fquare, or rather 

 hexagonal roughened fpace or centre, from which proceed, 

 in a radiated direftion, feveral well-defined yellow ftr^aks 

 towards the edge; thus conftituting a beautiful kind of geo- 

 metrical appe^ance on the black ground colour on which 

 they are difpofed : the marginal pieces, which are com- 

 monly twenty-four, fometimes twenty-fix, in number, are 

 alfo ftreaked with yellow, but in a fomewhat dilFercnt ftyle. 



The native country of this beautiful tortoife is perhaps 

 not truly afcertained ; though the (hell is more frequently 

 feen in Europe than that of almoft any other kind. It is 

 faid, however, to inhabit Afia and Africa, and even to be 

 found in America. According to Mr. Thunberg it is par- 

 ticularly common in ihrubby places about the Cape of Good 

 Hope. It is faid to lay about twelve or fifteen eggs at a 



time. 



