EYES OF MACROCLEMMYS 
to themselves, and not to their “shell” for protection 
in the hour of need. The Testudo greca, for instance, 
has only to retire into its shell, and wait patiently until 
the enemy has rolled by, even if it rolls over the tor- 
toise on its way. The fiercer terrapin can resent any 
attack by a sharp bite; it has no more teeth than its 
pond relatives, but the beak is more hooked, and with 
sharper edges. In spite of its ferocity, and Prof. 
Louis Agassiz said that these tortoises ‘“‘are as 
ferocious as the wildest beast of prey,” a large speci- 
men at the Zoo appeared to remain quiescent for weeks 
_ together. So quiet indeed was it that a copious growth 
~ of green algze had collected upon its shell. It lay at 
the bottom, often with its mouth open, in which 
flickered little tags of skin, which possibly act as an 
allurement to little fishes to wander in and to meet 
with their death. Many animals are betrayed by 
their eyes; the puzzle is in this terrapin to find the 
eyes at all, for they have an apparently unusual forward 
position, and are coloured like the skin. A relentless 
and gazing eye might be supposed to warn off prey ; 
the glittering eyes of a snake, for instance, might be 
held to be of the nature of a “ warning coloration,” 
to small birds and mammals. When urged to “ Gouge 
him, gouge him, darn ye, gouge him,” the hero of the 
snapping turtle incident might have well been unable 
to comply. It is dangerous to generalize from single 
cases, and the ancient Greeks, or at least the sculptor 
Phidias, would not have placed the tortoise at the feet 
of Venus as the symbol of gentleness had he been 
acquainted with this martial beast. 
ORDER CROCODILIA 
The principal features of this Order are described 
on the following pages. 
fod 
271 
