915 
TESTUDO. 
■ovate, with extremely long neck.—This species is a native of 
New Holland, and is of the river or fresh-water kind. The 
colour of the whole animal above is deep olive-brown; be¬ 
neath paler, and inclining to whitish. Shaw. 
Ill —Land tortoises, with clavated unguiculated feet, convex 
shell, and bony commissures joined with the sternum. 
27. Tesludo denticulata.—Tortoise with sub-digitated feet, 
and orbicularly-cordated shell, with denticulated marginal 
segments. The shell is of a pale yellowish-brown colour, 
about four inches long and three broad, covered on the disk 
by broad hexagonal and pentagonal scutella, of a flattened 
form, with a large distinct middle space, granulated by 
small tubercles, and the remainder marked by five lines or 
furrows. The edge of the shell consists of twenty-three 
pieces, projecting in a serrated manner round the outline. 
—It is supposed to be a native of North America. The feet, 
in Gmelin’s edition of the Systema Naturae, are said to be 
without distinct toes; and the tail short. 
28. Testudo Grseca.—The common land tortoise, with 
sub-digitated feet, hinder part of the shell gibbous, lateral 
margin very obtuse, and scutella flatfish. Gmelin. 
It is described by others as the tortoise with hemispheric 
black and yellow shell, gibbous behind; the pieces com¬ 
posing the disk convex, and the sides obtuse. This tortoise 
is supposed to be a native of almost all the countries bor¬ 
dering on the Mediterranean sea, and to be more frequent 
in Greece than in other regions.—It is found in the Euro¬ 
pean Archipelago islands, and in Corsica and Sardinia, and 
also in many parts of Africa. In Greece, it is an article of 
food; the eggs are eaten boiled, and the blood is often swal¬ 
lowed recent. In September, the animal hides itself under 
ground, and emerges in February: it lays its eggs in June, 
in a small hole on a sunny spot, out of which, after the first 
rains of September, the young are hatched. In England, it 
retires about the end of October, and re-appears about the 
middle of April; but these seasons vary with the climate 
and weather, &c. The males often fight, butting at each 
other with a noise that may be heard at a considerable dis¬ 
tance. This animal lives to a most extraordinary age, ex¬ 
ceeding the period of even a century. 
One of the most remarkable instances, is that of a tortoise 
introduced into the archiepiscopal garden at Lambeth, in 
the time of archbishop Laud, and as near as can be collected 
from its history, about the year 1633, which continued to 
live there till the year 1753, when it was supposed to have 
perished rather from accidental neglect on the part of the 
gardener, than from the mere effect of age. This tortoise 
has had the honour of being commemorated by Derham, 
and many other writers, and its shell is preserved in the 
library of the palace at Lambeth. 
The general manners of the tortoise, in a state of domes¬ 
tication in this country, are very agreeably detailed by 
Mr. White, in his History of Selbourn. “ A land tortoise, 
which has been kept thirty years in a little walled court, 
retires under ground about the middle of November, and 
comes forth again about the middle of April. When it first 
appears in the spring, it discovers very little inclination for 
food, but in the height of summer grows voracious; and 
then, as the summer declines, its appetite also declines; so 
that for the last weeks in autumn it hardly eats at all. Milky 
plants, such as lettuces, dandelions, sowthistles, &c., are its 
principal food. 
“ The tortoise is totally a diurnal animal, and never stirs 
after it becomes dark. The tortoise,” adds Mr. White, “ like 
other reptiles, has an arbitrary stomach, as well as lungs, 
and can refrain from eating, as well as breathing, for a great 
part of the year. I was much taken with its sagacity, in 
discerning those that do it kind offices; for as soon as the 
good old lady comes in sight who has waited on it for more 
than thirty years, it hobbles towards its benefactress with 
awkward alacrity; but remains inattentive to strangers. 
Thus, not only ‘ the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his 
master’s crib,’ but the most abject and torpid of beings dis¬ 
tinguishes the hand that feeds it, and is touched with the 
feelings of gratitude. This creature not only goes under the 
earth from the middle of November to the middle of April, 
but sleeps great part of the summer; for it goes to bed in the 
longest days at four in the 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 toge¬ 
ther in the profoundest of all slumbers! Though he loves 
warm weather, he avoids the hot sun; because his thick 
shell, when once heated, would, as the poet says of solid 
armour, ‘ scald with safety.’ He therefore spends the more 
sultry hours under the umbrella of a large cabbage leaf, or 
amid 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 horizon receive a greater share 
of warmth, he inclines his shell by tilting it against the wall, 
to collect and admit every feeble ray.” 
The tortoise is said to be more tenacious of life than any 
other of the amphibia; many experiments performed upon 
them by Redi, of a cruel nature, such as opening their shells, 
taking out the brain, cutting off the head, evince their tena¬ 
ciousness of life, and that the vital principle is very slowly 
discharged from these animals. Shaw. 
29. Testudo carinata.—Tortoise with digitated feet, and 
gibbous shell, with the four first dorsal scutella carinated, 
and entire sternum.—Found in warm regions, but very little 
known. 
30. Testudo geometrica.—Shell ovated, with all the ele¬ 
vated scutella above plane, marked with a yellow striae issu¬ 
ing from the centre in form of a star: or, according to others, 
this is the tortoise with ovate black shell, and elevated scu¬ 
tella radiated with yellow; the testudo tesselata minor of 
Ray. The pieces of which the disk of the shell consists are 
very prominent, striated, or furrowed pretty distinctly with 
numerous lines on their sides, and terminated above by a yel¬ 
lowish, flat, square, or rather hexagonal roughened space or 
centre, from which proceed, in a radiated direction, several 
well-defined yellow streaks towards the edge; thus consti¬ 
tuting a beautiful kind of geometrical appearance on the 
black ground colour on which they are disposed. the mar¬ 
ginal pieces, which are commonly twenty-four, sometimes 
twenty-six, in number, are also streaked with yellow, but in 
a somewhat different style. 
The native country of this beautiful tortoise is, perhaps, 
not truly ascertained; though the shell is more frequently 
seen in Europe than that of almost any other kind. It is 
said, however, to inhabit Asia and Africa, and even to be 
found in America. According to Thunberg, it is par¬ 
ticularly common in shrubby places about the Cape of Good 
Hope. It is said to lay about twelve or fifteen eggs at a time. 
The Count de Cepede supposes this species to be the Ter¬ 
rapin of Dampier, which that navigator represents as very 
beautifully variegated, and as delighting in moist and marshy 
places; adding, that its flesh is esteemed as a food, and that 
it is found in plenty on the coasts of the Pine islands, be¬ 
tween the continent of America and Cuba: they are found 
in the forests, where they are easily taken: the hunters 
mark them on the shield, and let them wander about the 
woods; being sure to find them again at no great distance, 
every one easily recognizing his own property, and after- 
terwards carrying them to Cuba. Shaw. 
31. Testudo pusilla, or little tortoise-—With sub-digitated 
feet, and hemispheric shell, with convex, trapezial, scutella, 
striated on the margin, and punctated on the disk. This is 
the African land tortoise of Edwards, and thus described by 
him from a specimen obtained from West Barbary. “ The 
iris of the eye is of a reddish hazel colour; the lips hard. 
