TESTUDO TABULATA. 
This Tortoise is found in the southern States of America, in the whole of 
tropical America, and in the larger West India islands. It appears that it is not 
found north of the river Savannah. It is carried to market and sold as food 
in Florida and Georgia. Those which I have kept have fed on grass, and on 
dandelions and lettuces, and drank freely. The account which Bartram gives 
of the habitations of these tortoises, in his Travels in the southern parts of 
North America, is exceedingly curious, though, like most of his wonderful 
stories, it is tinctured by an amusing credulity which has rendered him easily 
imposed upon. “The dens or caverns dug in the sand hills by the great land 
tortoise, called here Gopher, preseijt a very singular appearance. These vast 
caves are their castles and diurnal retreats, from whence they issue forth in the 
night in search of prey. The little hillocks of fresh earth, thrown up in great 
numbers in the night, have also a curious appearance.” At another part of his 
journal he says, “ Observed, as we passed over the sand hills, the dens of the 
great land tortoise, called Gopher. The first signs of this animal’s existence as 
we travel southerly, are immediately after we cross the Savannah river. It is 
to be seen only on the high dry sand hills, in which they form great and deep 
dens, casting out incredible quantities of earth; they are esteemed excellent 
food.” It is unnecessary to say that the little flourish of the worthy traveller, 
about their issuing from their castles in the night time in search of prey, is a 
simple fiction; for not only are all the land tortoises vegetable feeders, but 
strictly diurnal animals. 
The young animal differs from the older in the brighter colour, the more 
distinct sculpture, and the rounded oval form of the shell. The eggs are of a 
spherical shape, very slightly flattened, and about two inches in diameter. 
The egg shell is thick, and of a friable texture. 
