over the lower, like the lid of a box, and their strength is said to be so great that it is impossible to open them when once they have fastened. Even when the head is cut off the muscles retain a surprising degree of rigidity.

The legs are short, but inconceivably strong: one of the larger species has been known to carry five men, all at the same time, on his back, with great apparent ease and unconcern.

may

However clumsy and awkward these animals appear in their manners, they are, for the most part, extremely gentle and peaceable; and few, except the Loggerhead and Fierce Turtles, make any resistance when taken. No animals whatever are more tenacious of life: even if their head be cut off, and their chest opened, they will continue to live for several days.-They pass the cold season in a torpid state.

The Marine Tortoises, or Turtles, are distinguished from the others by their large and long finshaped feet, in which are inclosed the bones of the toes; the first and second only of each foot having visible or projecting claws. The shield, as in the others, consists of a strong bony covering, in which are embedded the ribs in one or two species this is much thicker and more strong than that of Land Tortoises.

Of these animals, there are in the whole about thirty-six species; four marine, eighteen inhabiting the fresh waters, and the rest residing on land.

THE COMMON TORTOISE*.

The Common Tortoise is found in most of the countries near the Mediterranean sea, in Corsica, Sardinia, and some of the islands of the Archipelago, as well as in many parts of the North of Africa.

The length of its shell is seldom more than eight or nine inches, nor does its weight often exceed three pounds. The shell, which, as in most of the other species, is composed of thirteen middle pieces, and about twenty-five marginal ones, is of an oval form, extremely convex, and broader behind than before. The middle part is blackish brown varied with yellow. The under part or belly of the shell is of a pale yellow, with a broad dark line down each side, leaving the middle part plain. The head is not large, nor does the opening of the mouth extend beyond the eyes: the upper part is covered with somewhat irregular scales. The legs are short, and the feet moderately broad and covered with strong ovate scales. The tail is somewhat shorter than the legs; it is also covered with scales, but terminates in a horny tip.

This species resides principally in burrows that it forms in the ground, where it sleeps the greatest part of its time, appearing abroad only a few hours in the middle of the day. In the autumn it hides

* SYNONYMS.-Testudo Græca. Linn. Common Land Tortoise, Greek Tortoise. Shaw's Gen. Zool. vol. 3. tab. 1.

itself for the winter, remaining torpid for four or five months, and not again making its appearance till the spring. About the beginning of June, the female scratches a hole in some warm situation, in which she deposits her four or five eggs. These are hatched in September, at which time the young are not larger than a walnut*.

The Common Tortoise is an animal that, for the extreme slowness of its motions, has been ever notorious, both in antient and modern times. This seems principally occasioned by the position of the legs, which are thrown very much to the sides of the body, and are considerably spread out from each other. It may likewise be in some degree caused by the great weight of the shell pressing on this unfavourable position of the legs.-In walking, the elaws of the fore-feet are rubbed separately, and one after another against the ground; when one of the feet is placed on the ground, the inner claw first bears the weight of the body, and so on along the claws in succession to the outermost. The foot in this manner acts somewhat like a wheel, as if the animal wished scarcely to raise its feet from the earth, and endeavoured to advance by means of a succession of partial steps of its toes or claws, for the purpose of more firmly supporting the great weight of its body and shellt.

These animals have often been brought into England. The Rev. Mr. White, of Selborne, attended accurately to the manners of one that was in posses

*La Cepede, i. 193.

↑ Ib. L. 184. 186.

sion of a lady of his acquaintance upwards of thirty years. It regularly retired under ground about the middle of November, from whence it did not emerge till the middle of April. Its appetite was almost most voracious in the height of summer, eating very little either in spring or autumn. Milky plants, such as lettuces, dandelions and sowthistles, were its principal food. In scraping the ground to form its winter retreat, it used its fore-feet, and threw up the earth with its hinder ones over its back; but the motion of its legs was so slow as scarcely to exceed the hour-hand of a clock. It worked with. the utmost assiduity, both night and day, in scooping out the earth, and forcing its great body into the cavity; notwithstanding which the operation occupied more than a fortnight before it was completed. It was always extremely alarmed when surprised by a sudden shower of rain during its peregrinations for food. Though its shell would have secured it from injury, even if run over by the wheel of a loaded cart, yet it discovered as much solicitude about rain as a lady dressed in her most elegant attire, shuffling away on the first sprinklings, and always, if possible, running its head up into a corner. When the Tortoise is attended to, it becomes an excellent barometer when it walks elate, and, as it were, on tiptoe, feeding with great earnestness, in a morning, it will, almost invariably, be found to rain before night.-Mr. White was much pleased with the sagacity of the above animal, in distinguishing those from whom it was accustomed to receive attention: whenever the good old lady came in sight, who had

6

waited on it for more than thirty years, it always hobbled with awkward alacrity, towards its benefac tress, whilst to strangers it was entirely inattentive. Thus did the most abject of torpid creatures distin guish the hand that fed it, and exhibit marks of gratitude not always to be found in superior orders of animal being. It was a diurnal animal, never stirring out after dark, and very frequently appearing abroad even a few hours only in the middle of the day. It always retired to rest for every shower, and in wet days never came at all from its retreat. Although he loved warm weather, yet he carefully avoided the hot sun, since his thick shell, when once heated, must have become extremely painful, and probably dangerous to him. He therefore spent the more sultry hours under the 'umbrella of a large cabbage leaf, or amidst the waving forests of an asparagus bed. But, as he endeavoured to avoid the heat in the summer, he improved the faint autumnal beams by getting within the reflection of a fruit-tree wall; and though he had certainly never read that planes inclining to the horizon receive a greater share of warmth, he frequently inclined his shell, by tilting it against the wall, to collect and admit every feeble ray*.

Very ample evidence has been produced of this animal's living ro a most extraordinary age, frequently exceeding even the period of a century. One that was introduced into the garden at Lambeth, in the time of archbishop Laud, was living in

* White's Selborne.