COLLECTION OF REPTILES. J99 



the two moveable parts of the breastplate are 

 brought close to it, and the tortoise is shut in as 

 completely as if it were in a box. The Museum 

 possesses five species of this kind of tortoise : 

 we shall only mention two ; the striated tortoise 

 (t. virgulatd) from South America, and the couro y 

 brought from Java by M. Leschenault. We have 

 already seen the most remarkable species of the 

 sea tortoises, or chelonice. Some young and eggs 

 of the caretta my das and coriacea or leather tor- 

 toise are placed in their regular order under the 

 emyds. 



The last genus of this family is that of the tor- 

 toises whose carapace and breastplate are covered 

 with a soft skin ; we have five species of them ; 

 they live in fresh water and feed on aquatic ani- 

 mals. M. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire has named them 

 trionyx, because they have only three claws on 

 each foot. There are several young of the soft 

 tortoise of the Nile, called tyrse; a large carapace 

 of which species is placed against the wall. The 

 soft tortoise of America, called the ferocious, 

 lies in ambush in order to seize on ducks and 

 other water fowl, which it drowns, and devours 

 under water. Here ends the first order of rep- 

 tiles, chelonians or tortoises, of which there are 

 a great number in the cabinet to exemplify the 

 differences resulting from age and the varieties. 



