Land Tortoises. KEPTILES. The Greek Tortoise. 
port upon which the body rests. All hut one genus 
{Homopus) have five claws on the front feet, and four 
on the hind ones; or if they have five on the latter 
also, the last is merely rudimentary, and remains con- 
cealed under the skin. They are in some species 
elongated, nearly straight, and sharp ; in others they 
are short, blunt, and resemble in a slight degree the 
hoofs of some mammalia. These claws are useful to 
Fig. 22. 
Fore and hind leg of Testudo actinodes. 
the animals, in holding down substances while they 
tear them with their jaws, and in bun’owing or digging 
holes in which to deposit their eggs, or to take refuge 
from their enemies or from the cold in situations where 
they cannot obtain the use of burrows previously 
made by other animals. The skin which clothes the 
legs is generally covered with scales — -fig. 22. The tail 
is covered with tubercular scales, and varies very much 
both in length and form. Sometimes it is very short, 
scarcely extending be^mnd the carapace, whilst in other 
species it reaches nearly to the extremity of the hind 
feet ; and occasionally it terminates in a kind of spur 
or horny sheath enveloping the last joint. The female 
tortoise is generally larger than the male. The eggs 
remain a long time within her body, and are there 
covered with an external calcareous shell previous to 
their exclusion. They are all laid nearly at the sane 
time, are of a spherical form, and the shell is pretty 
solid, not flexible like those of serpents. The newly- 
hatched young differ considerably in appearance from 
what they are when adult. Just previous to their 
birth, they possess at the extremity of their beak a 
horny point or protuberance, which enables them to 
break the shell, and thus make their escape from it. 
Though the Land tortoises never take to the water, yet 
they are generally found living near it. Their chief 
places of abode are woods and places well furnished 
with herbs, and where they can either find or make 
shallow holes or burrows, into which, when the cold 
weather comes, they are able to retreat, and in which, 
in cool climates, they remain during the winter in a kind 
of torpidity. Their food consists chiefly of slugs and 
snails, and vegetables. In a state of domesticity, they 
have been observed to prefer lettuce to any other kind 
of food. The species appear to be scattered nearly all 
over the globe, except in Australia, where none have 
yet been found. 
Only two species of Land tortoises are found in 
Europe : — 
THE GREEK TORTOISE, TARTARUGA, OR COMMON 
LAND TORTOISE {Testudo grceca ) — represented in Plate 
6, fig. 1 — is the best known. One of the first naturalists 
who has given a description of this species was our 
countryman, John Ray. It was well-known, however, 
to the ancient Greeks ; and it is said to be the tortoise 
which the celebrated Phidias sculptured, and placed at 
the feet of his statue of Venus, as the symbol of gentle- 
ness. The Tartaruga appears to be peculiar to the 
northern part of the Mediterranean basin, and the 
opposite coast of Africa. It is extremely common in 
the Morea, is abundant in Calabria, Sicily, Sardinia, 
and Corsica, and is found all along the Barbary coast, 
especially in the neighbourhood of Algiers. It is said 
also to be found in Spain, in the province of Andalusia, 
and even to extend eastward to the shores of the 
Caspian Sea and the foot of the Caucasus. The shell 
is of an oval figure, a little broader behind than in front, 
and is swollen or convex. The plates of the carapace 
are generally smooth, or occasionally striated concen- 
trically, and are generally of a yellowish -green and 
black colour, with black triangular spots and rings. 
The tail is rather long, in the European individuals 
being terminated by a rather long and pointed claw ; 
and in the African variety (which has been described 
by some authors as a distinct species, under the name 
Testudo Mauritanica, or the Moorish tortoise) being 
blunt and clawless. The ordinary size of tliis animal 
appears to be from six to eight or ten inches in length. 
Wherever it is found, it occurs in considerable abun- 
dance, and it seems to prefer sandy and woody spots 
as its places of abode. Its food consists of herbs, roots, 
worms, and snails, the shells of which it breaks with 
facility, and swallows the animal. During the cold 
weather of winter, these tortoises retire into holes, 
which they dig for themselves in the ground to the 
depth of two or three feet, and in which they remain 
in a sort of torpid state till the warmth of the months 
of April and May revivifies them. Like the generality 
of reptiles, they delight in warmth, and love to bask in 
the rays of the sun. In Sicily and Italy these tortoises 
are sold in the markets as food ; but their flesh is less 
esteemed than the soup made from it. In Paris the 
soup made from the individuals sent from Algiers, 
known as soupe a la tortue is much esteemed by 
many people. The habits and disposition of the Tar- 
taruga are very gentle, and it is easily domesticated. 
It is often kept in gardens, where it is very useful, as 
it destroys insects, slugs, and snails, which are often so 
pernicious to the flower-beds. It never does any harm 
provided it is furnished occasionally with nourishment. 
Lettuce leaves, according to Messrs. Dumeril and 
Bibron, are its favourite food, preferring these to any 
other kind of sustenance. According to some Italian 
writers, these tortoises breed in the gardens of Italj’-, 
where they are often kept. They appear to grow very 
slowly, and live for a considerable time, individuals 
having often been kept for upwards of forty years. 
Who has not read of the “ old family tortoise,” so 
exquisitely described by the inimitable author of the 
“ Natural History of Selborne ? ” 
Though the land tortoise is generally very slow in 
its movements, at the pairing season it becomes much 
more active. When several males assemble in one 
place, they attack each other fiercely, butting with 
