1837.] of Central India. 695 



Now as I have already shown that this habit does not hold good 

 with all the species, I venture to ask, to what species of Land Tortoise 

 do the foregoing quotations apply, and on whose authority is the as- 

 sertion ? 



With regard to the turtles it is likely enough to be the case, and I 

 believe the fact is well authenticated, not only with regard to their 

 remaining coupled several days, but also that the male embraces the 

 female with such strength, that she cannot shake him off. The old 

 work above mentioned, says, the sea turtles, " couple in March and 

 remain united till May." ! ! 



In the water it would matter little, as they would not lose the 

 power of locomotion, — but with the land tribe it is widely different, as 

 the male when mounted, is at the full stretch of his hind legs, and 

 could not walk with the female, for even if she move ever so little 

 during the time of connection, he has great difficulty in maintaining 

 his position, and is often fairly rolled over on his back. As to their 

 lying still for a month with a fine green vegetation springing up all 

 round them after having fasted for some months, — it is I think rather 

 unquestionable. Tantalus himself was not in a worse predicament ! ! 

 There is still another character assigned to the land tribe which in 

 the present species does not hold good; viz. in Stark's Elements of 

 Natural History, it is stated that the females are to be distinguished 

 from the males by their under shell or plastron being convex, while in 

 the latter it is concave. 



In the Geometric Tortoise the plastron of the female is flat, — that 

 of the male concave. 



Were the plastron convex, the animal could not rest quietly on a 

 plane surface, but would pitch, " fore and aft," like a ship in a heavy 

 sea, or at all events she would be obliged to rest with one end of the 

 shell tilted into the air. 



I may perhaps be censured for laying so much stress on such trifling 

 errors, but as it is alone by true descriptions of the habits, manners, 

 and construction of created beings, that we can ever hope in some 

 measure to comprehend their uses, and the designs and purpose of 

 our Creator in forming them ; — I hold the man to be inexcusable who 

 would perpetrate an error however trifling it may seem to be ; for if 

 the description is erroneous, it is consequently untrue, and the great 

 object of scientific research is thereby defeated. 



Now, although these (to me) seeming errors, may not be such, as 

 regards some species, yet taking them in a general view, they are so, 

 and consequently need correction. 

 4 u 2 



