COMMON TORTOISE. 9 



variation occasionally takes place in some of the 

 land tortoises, and particularly in the T. Graeca, 

 or common tortoise, the fore feet of which in some 

 individuals have four, and in others five claws. 

 The animals are, therefore, best distinguished by 

 the shape, pattern, and colours of the shell, the 

 form of the head, &c. 



Land and fresh-water Tortoises, 



COMMON TORTOISE. 



Testudo Graeca. T. testa hemisphcerica nigro Jlavoqne varia, 

 scutellis disci siihconvexis, margine laterali ohtuso, postice gihbo. 



Tortoise with hemispheric black and yellow shell, gibbose be- 

 hind; the pieces composing the disk convex, and the sides 

 obtuse. 



Testudo Graeca. T. testa hemisphcerica, suhtellis disci snhcorvoexis, 

 Jlavis, nigro cinctis, margine laterali ohtuso postice gibbo, 



Schoepf. Hist. Test. p. 38. t. 8, p. 

 Testudo Grseca. T. pedibus subdigitatis, testa postice gibba, 



margine laterali obtusissimOj scutellis planimculis. Lin. Syst* 



Nat. p. 352. 

 Testudo terrestris vulgaris. Raj. Quadr. 243, 

 The common Land Tortoise. 



This animal is generally considered as the most 

 familiarly known of all the European species, and 

 is emphatically called by the title of the Common 

 Land Tortoise. It might, therefore, as Mr. 

 SchoepfF has well observed, be expected, that its 

 accurate description should long ago have been 



