COMMON TORTOISE. 



11 



again emerges in February*; laying its eggs in 

 June, in a small hole, which it scratches in some 

 sunny spot, out of which after the first rains of 

 September, the young are hatched, which are 

 about the size of a walnut. The males of this spe- 

 cies are said to fight often, butting at each other 

 with such force as to be heard at a considerable 

 distance." 



The general length of the shell of this species is 

 from six to eight inches, which latter measure it 

 rarely exceeds : the weight of the full-grown animal 

 is about forty-eight ounces. The shell is of an 

 oval form, extremely convex on the upper part, 

 and composed, as in most others, of thirteen mid- 

 dle pieces, and about twenty-five marginal ones : 

 the middle pieces, or those constituting the disk 

 of the shield, are mostly of an oblong square form^ 

 and of a blackish or dark brown colour, varied by 

 a broad yellow or citron band running along one 

 side of each, and continued about half way along 

 the upper part : there is also an oblong patch of a 

 similar colour, running down the lower part or 

 side of each ; and on the top or centre of each 

 piece is an obscurely square or oblong space, ra- 

 ther more depressed than the rest, and marked, as 

 in many other tortoise-shells, wdth roughish spots 

 or granules : several furrows, more or less distinct 



* When kept in gardens in Italy and Germany, it is observed 

 to latibulize in October, and to reappear in April. In England 

 it retires about the end of October, and reappears about the mid- 

 dle of April ; but these periods seem to differ in all countries ac* 

 cording to the temperature of the weather, &c. 



