if possible, running its head up in 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 taken 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 waited on it for more than thirty years, it always hobbled with awkward alacrity towards its benefactress, whilst to strangers it was entirely inattentive. Thus did the most abject of torpid creatures distinguish 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 pain ful 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 to a most extraordinary great 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 the year 1753, a hundred and twenty years afterwards; and when at last it perished, it seems to have been more from the accidental neglect of the gardener, than from the mere effect of age.

The horrid experiments of Rhedi to prove the extreme vital tenacity of the Tortoise are a disgrace to the philosophic page. In one instance he made a large opening in the skull, and drew out all the brain, washing the cavity, so as not to leave the smallest part remaining, and then, with the hole open, set the animal at liberty. It marched off, as he says, without seeming to have received the slightest injury, save from the closing of its eyes, which it never afterwards opened. In a short time the hole was observed to close, and in about three days a complete skin covered the wound in this manner the animal lived, without the brain, for six months, walking about, and still moving its limbs as it did previous to the operation.

The males of this species are said to fight very often this is done by butting at each other, and with such force as to be heard at a considerable distance t.

White's Selborne.

+ Shaw's Gen. Zool. iii. p. 9.

In Greece they form an article of food. The inha bitants also swallow the blood without any culinary preparation, and are very partial to the eggs when made palatable by boiling. In the gardens of some parts of Italy there are formed for the purpose wells in which the inhabitants bury the eggs of the Tortoise. These remain till the ensuing spring, when by the natural warmth of the climate they are hatched, and the young ones come forth. The Tortoises are kept in banks of earth *.

THE MUD TORTOISE.

This Tortoise is about eight inches long from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail, and three or four inches in breadth. The middle part of the upper shell consists of thirteen striated pieces, each slightly punctured in the centre, and along the middle range extends a longitudinal ridge or keel. The margin has twenty-three pieces. The colour both of the shell and skin is blackish. The feet are webbed, with five toes before, and four behind, the exterior one of each foot unarmed. The tail is nearly half the length of the upper shell, and in walking it is always stretched out.

It is a very common animal in many parts both of Europe and Asia, and is also found in some of the

* Skippon's Travels, Churchill's Coll. vi. 501.

SYNONYMS.-Testudo lutaria. Linn.-La Bourbeuse. Le Cepede.-Mud Tortoise.Shaw's Gen. Zool. vol. 3. tab. 6.

eastern islands. In France, Languedoc, and many parts of Provence, it is particularly plentiful.

This species exists almost entirely in the water, but lays its eggs on land, in holes which it digs for the purpose, after which it covers them with the mould. When first hatched the young do not measure more than half an inch in diameter. Although, from its devouring snails and insects, this animal may be rendered useful in a garden, yet it is a troublesome inmate in fish-ponds; attacking and destroying the fish; biting them in such a manner that they become feeble from loss of blood; and then dragging them to the bottom and devouring them, seldom leaving more than the bones and some of the cartilaginous parts of the head floating on the surface, that give sufficient notice of the enemy with which the pond is infested*. Where there is no fish-pond in the garden it does no mischief. It may be rendered domestic, and kept in a large bason of water, so contrived at the edges as to allow a ready egress when it wishes to wander about for prey.

The voice of this animal is a kind of broken or interrupted hiss. It is able to walk much quicker, especially on even ground, than the common Tortoise. -It continues to grow for a long time, and is known to live twenty-four years or upwards.

Le Cepede Ovip. i. 218.

+ Shaw's Gen. Zool. iii. 32.

THE SOFT-SHELLED TORTOISE *.

This species is found in great quantities in the fresh-water rivers and lakes of East Florida, and the southern parts of Carolina, far remote from the sea. Its colour is deep olive brown above, and white beneath. The middle part of the shell is hard, strong and bony; but all round the sides, and particularly towards the tail, it is cartilaginous, soft and pliable, resembling thick tanned sole-leather, strong enough to defend it from any external injury, yet yielding easily to a force impressed in any direction. The head and snout, the latter of which is long and in shape not much unlike that of the mole, distinguish it from every other species. The neck is thick, and capable both of being extended to a great length, and of being drawn in under the plate of the shell. The upper parts of the body are studded with knobs. The fore-feet are thick and strong, and, as well as the others, have three claws each.

Some individuals weigh so much as seventy pounds. They frequent muddy rivers and lakes, hiding themselves among the roots and leaves of the water-plants, from whence they spring on their prey. By suddenly stretching out their neck, which they do with wonderful celerity, they are frequently able to seize young birds and other small animals. When attacked or disturbed they exhibit a most

SYNONYMS.-Testudo ferox. Linn.-Soft-shelled Tortoise,

Fresh-water Tortoise.

-Fierce Tortoise.

Penn.-Great soft-billed Turtle. Bartram. -Shaw's Gen. Zool, vol. 3. tab. 17.