6o 
TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 
caudal shield being usually double, and there being no large tubercle on the inner 
side of the thigh. The shell of this species is moderately vaulted, and not much 
expanded behind, while its margins are not serrated. The nuchal shield is very 
long and narrow; in the male the divided caudals are much incurved; and the 
shields of the back show a strongly-marked concentric striation. In colour, the 
shell is bright yellow, with the shields of the carapace spotted and bordered with 
black, and a broad band of black running along each side of the plastron. The 
length of the shell is about 5| inches. Mainly a South European species, the 
Grecian tortoise inhabits the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Italy, 
Dalmatia, the Balkan Peninsula, and the Greek Archipelago, while it also occurs in 
Syria. The allied but larger Algerian tortoise ( Tibera), in which the shell attains 
a length of about 9 inches, may be distinguished by the fifth vertebral shield being 
not broader than the third, by the single caudal shield, and the presence of a large 
subconical tubercle on the inner 
surface of the thigh. In colour, 
this species differs from the last 
in having the plastron more or 
less spotted with black, while 
in some examples the carapace 
is uniformly brown. Its range 
includes North-Western Africa, 
Syria, Asia Minor, Trans¬ 
caucasia, and Persia. A third 
species often represented among 
the shiploads of these reptiles 
imported into England, is the 
margined tortoise (T. mar- 
ginata), which attains a length 
of 11 inches, and appears to 
be confined to Greece. The 
absence of an enlarged tubercle on the thigh serves to distinguish it from the 
preceding species; from which it also differs by the longer and more depressed shell, 
in which the hinder margin is much expanded, and more or less serrated. Usually 
the carapace of the adult is black with a small yellow or greenish spot on each 
shield; while the ground-colour of the plastron is yellowish, each of its shields 
being marked by a black patch, which generally takes a triangular form. This 
species appears to be confined to Greece; but in Lower Egypt and Syria is replaced 
by the smaller Leith’s tortoise (T. leithi), in which the carapace is relatively shorter 
and more deeply notched in front, while the form and arrangement of the tubercles 
on the fore-limb is different. 
All these tortoises appear identical in their habits, frequenting dry and sandy 
places, and being extremely fond of sunshine, in which they will bask by the hour 
together. In certain parts of Greece and the south of Italy, the Grecian tortoise is 
found in great numbers; and in the markets of Sicily and Italy it is regularly 
exposed for sale as an article of food. At the approach of winter it buries itself 
deep in the earth, where it remains during the cold months, usually reappearing in 
GRECIAN TORTOISE. 
