SIR PETER EAUE OK TORTOISES. 
321 
feet, or four hundred yards, in the hour ; or of a mile in between four 
and five hours. This truly is not quite the ordinary rate of the 
hare’s progress, hut I think they can cross a certain small distance 
of ground much more rapidly than we should at first suspect. 
Once more. These creatures distinctly grow in size from year to 
year. Our two measure respectively seven and seven and a half 
inches in length. And they must have elongated fully an incli in 
the three and four years of our possession. 
I weighed them this year, on May 29th, soon after their waking 
up for the summer, and again on September 8th. They weighed in 
May, 2 lbs. 7h ozs. and 2 lbs. 3i ozs. ; a fortnight ago they weighed 
2 lbs. 10 ozs. and 2 lbs. 5 ozs. j having thus gained in weight 
through tlieir summer feeding 2i ozs. and H ozs. respectively.* 
When the duo period arrives in which they naturally bury 
themselves, and so surround themselves with earthen bulwarks, 
and then retire for the winter into their carapace castles, we 
put them down into a cupboard in the cellar. 
Mr. White remarks that his Tortoise did not bury itself into the 
ground before November 1st, but ours are cold and torpid, and 
ipiite ready to hybernato by the first week in October. I’robably 
the different latitude and longitude of Selborne and Norwich may 
account for this difference of time. 
In this cellar cupboard, the Tortoises remain until the end 
of April, when, though still dull and stupid, the weather is 
getting sufficiently warm for them to enjoy the sun for a portion of 
the day. But the frosts and cold of this period of the year 
are still dangerous. And a relative of mine lost both of his 
old friends (who for years had taken care of themselves in the 
winter in his garden) during the cold weather of this spring, after 
they had duly survived the far greater cold of the winter in the 
ground places in which they hail buried themselves. 
From October to April — fully seven months — they rest from 
their labours of eating, of breathing, shall I say, of thinking ? (or 
nearly so, for they occasionally stir a little, and are found to have 
moved a little from under their straw). But they neither eat nor 
drink, nor see light, nor (I believe) open their eyes. And when 
* April, 1887. The}* have just been again weighed, after their winter's 
hybernation; and their weight now is, respectively, 2 lbs. 71 oz. and 2 lbs. 2i ozs. 
Thus each of them has lost 2.V ozs. in the seven mouths of quietude. 
Y 2 
