TORTOISE. 
7 
afternoon, and often does not stir in the morning 
till late. Besides, it retires to rest for every shower, 
and does not move at all in wet days. When one 
reflects on the state of this strange being, it is a 
matter of wonder that Providence should bestow 
such a seeming waste of longevity on a reptile that 
appears to relish it so little as to squander away 
more than two thirds of its existence in a joyless 
stupor, and be lost to all sensation for months to- 
gether in the profoundest of all slumbers ! Though 
he loves warm weather, he avoids the hot sun, be- 
cause his thick shell, when once heated, would, as 
the poets say of solid armour, “ scald with safety ” 
He therefore spends the more sultry hours under 
the umbrella of a large cabbage-leaf, or amidst the 
waving forests of an asparagus bed. But as he avoids 
heat in the summer, so in the decline of the year 
he improves the faint autumnal beams by getting 
within the reflection of a fruit-tree wall ; and though 
he has never read that planes inclining to the hori- 
zon receive a greater share of warmth, he inclines 
his shell by tilting it against the wall, to collect and 
admit every feeble ray.” 
To these natural observations of Mr. White’s we 
may add, that the tortoise not only feeds on various 
herbs and fruits, but on worms, snails, and insects, 
which it is supposed to devour in sufficient abun- 
dance to make it a useful inmate in a garden. The 
Greeks eat these reptiles, and are fond of the eggs, 
which are about the size of a pigeon’s, and very 
good when boiled : they are of a white colour, and 
