50 



SPECKLED TORTOISE. 



Testudo Europasa. T. testa ovali planiuscula subcarinata fusco- 

 aira, punctis striisque albo-Jla'cescentibus radiatis, Schneid, 

 Sdiildkr. p. 323. 



Tortoise with oval, flattish^ smooth, dark-brown shell, marked 

 with very numerous yelWish specks and streaks. 



Testudo orbicularis. T. testa orbicidari planiuscula Icevi. Lin. 

 Si/sf. Nat. Gmel. 1039. exclusis synoii. Gronovianis et y. 



Testudo Meleagris. Speckled Tortoise. Naturalist's Miscel- 

 lany, ToL 4. pi. 144. 



7\ aquarum dnlciiim et lutaria. Raj. Quadr, 254. 



I.a Jaune. Ccpede ovip. I. p. 135. pL 6. 



The speckled Tortoise is of rather small size; 

 the shell measuring about four or five inches in 

 length : it is of an olive-brown or blackish colour, 

 smooth, flattish, or but slightly convex, and beau- 

 tifully marked on the upper surface with very nu- 

 merous, small, oblong yellow specks, or very 

 short streaks, which are disposed in a kind of radii 

 on each division of the shell : the skin of the neck 

 and breast of the animal is also spotted nearly in 

 the same manner. The disk of the shell is com- 

 posed of thirteen, and the margin of twenty-five 

 pieces : the under shell is of a whitish yellow, 

 tinged towards the commissures or joints Avith 

 brown : the head is ovate, somewhat convex 

 above, flattish on each side and beneath; the skin 

 of the neck lax and wrinkly : the legs short and 

 scaly : all the feet are webbed, and the fore feet 

 have five toes ; the hind only four : the claws 

 on all the feet are sharp-pointed, and somewhat 



