8 
TORTOISE. 
four or five is the number which the tortoise gene- 
rally lays. For this purpose the female scratches a 
hole in June, in a situation exposed to the sun, 
where, if the eggs are left undisturbed, they will 
be hatched in September, and produce an equal 
number of little creatures about the size of a 
walnut. 
It , has been ascertained by some experiments 
made abroad, that the tortoise loses very little 
weight during the months it remains concealed un- 
der ground. In all this time, which lasts from 
October till March, the animal remains without 
food ; but this abstinence can be carried to a much 
greater length, according to Gerard Blasius, who 
kept one by him for ten months, without nourish- 
ment of any kind; and then tells us that, far from 
being starved to death, it was only killed by the 
cold. We have already expressed our abhorrence 
of these experiments, where the life of the animal 
is to be cruelly sacrificed to satisfy an idle curiosity. 
The following result of a set of experiments made 
by F. Redi, an Italian physician, will serve to prove 
two things ; a great want of sensibility in the ani- 
mal, and a total want of feeling in the doctor. £f At 
the beginning of the month of November,” as La 
Cepede has related the fact, “ F. Redi made a large 
opening in the skull of a land tortoise, and removed 
the whole substance of the brain, cleaning out the 
cavity with great care. The eyes of the tortoise 
were instantly shut, and never afterwards opened ; 
but being set at liberty, the animal continued to 
