53 



LITTLE TORTOISE. 



Testudo Pusilla. T, pedibus subdigitatis, testa hemispkcBnca, scu- 

 tellis convexis trapeziis margine striatis disco ptmctatis, Lin» 

 Sysf. Nat. p. 353. 



Tortoise with subdigitated feet, and hemispheric shell with con- 

 vex, trapezial scutella striated on the margin and punctated 

 on the disk. 



The African Land Tortoise. Edw. pi. 204. 



This is figured and described by the accurate 

 Edwards, who informs us that he received two 

 specimens from West Barbary, which were kept 

 by him for two years in the garden of the College 

 of Physicians. It is thus described by Edwards : 



The iris of the eye is of a reddish hazel colour ; 

 the lips hard, like the bill of a bird ; the head co- 

 vered with scales of a yellowish colour ; the neck, 

 hind legs, and tail, covered with a flexible skin of 

 a dirty flesh-colour; the fore legs covered with 

 yellow scales on their outsides, which are partly 

 exposed when the legs are drawn in : the shell 

 round, and pretty much rising on its upper side, 

 and flat beneath ; the pieces or compartments are 

 of a yellowish colour, clouded and spotted with 

 large and small irregular dusky or blackish spots, 

 and are also furrowed or creased, the creases les- 

 sening, one within the other, till they reach the 

 top or middle part of each : the tail is thick, 

 scaly, and about an inch in length ; and the vent 

 is situated within the tail itself near the base : there 

 are five claws on the fore feet, and four on the 



