The "Painted Terrapin" is one of the few species of which, thanks to L. Agassiz,^[132] complete data of growth from the new born to old age are known. During the first six or seven years the rate of growth is so uniform that numerous specimens collected at the same time are readily arranged in sets of the same age, simply by the differences they show in their size. The successive lines of growth on the shields indicate the number of years. After the seventh year the age is much more difficult to distinguish in those tortoises, which, like Ch. picta, have a perfectly smooth epidermis. This smoothness is due to the fact that the shields undergo a process of moulting. An upper, quite transparent layer of each shield peels off completely like a piece of mica. I have been able to confirm Agassiz' statement on Ch. concinna in their third and fourth springs, and on a number of adult Ch. picta. The latter were not allowed to hibernate, being kept in a warm tank; they peeled completely during the late autumn, and then the red and yellow colours underlying the newly formed shields appeared very vividly; others moult at midsummer.

Growth of Ch. picta, after Agassiz.

The size of the eggs varies considerably, from 26 by 17 to 30 by 16 millimeters; sometimes they are perfectly round, 17 mm. in diameter.

Ch. concinna.–The specific character by which this Terrapin may be easily recognised is a pair of orange-red broad streaks, which extend from above the eye to the sides of the neck. The general colour is olive-brown above, variegated with yellowish dark-edged lines, which, together with numerous rugosities, radiate from the middle field of each shield. The plastron is yellow, often with blackish symmetrical patches, and sometimes these become confluent and preponderant. Very young specimens are extremely pretty, the ground-colour of the carapace being green, each shield with darker, somewhat concentric markings, most conspicuous and regular on the upper surface of the marginals, where the marks of the adjoining shields form one pattern-system across the dividing lines. The plastron is either uniform yellow or has a few pairs of blackish spots which stand so closely together that they form almost median patches.

The carapace is rough. The horny shields become very thin with age. The anterior margin of the small nuchal and the neighbouring marginals is faintly serrated. The posterior marginals form slight notches or indentations between their edges. The plastron is almost square behind. The edges of the jaws are nearly smooth, without hook and receiving-notch. The tail is short.

This species inhabits the South-Eastern States of North America, from Missouri and North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico. Very large female specimens have a shell sixteen inches in length. The eggs measure from 33 by 25 to 39 by 25 mm. or about 1½ inch in the long diameter.

Emys.–The plastron is movably united to the carapace by ligament, and in the adult has a slightly flexible hinge across the middle, between the hyo- and hypo-plastral plates and the pectoral and abdominal shields. The plastron is large, but does not quite close the box. Besides the small nuchal there are twelve pairs of marginal shields. The head is covered with smooth skin; the temporal arch is complete. The limbs are extensively webbed. The tail of the very young is nearly as long as the shell, but it becomes relatively shorter with age, being reduced in the males to about two-thirds, in the females to half the length of the shell. Only two species are found in Europe, the other, E. blandingi, in Canada and north-eastern U.S.A.

E. orbicularis s. europaea s. lutaria, the European Pond-tortoise.–The shape and coloration of the shell change likewise much with age. In the very young the shell is round, and the shields are rough and slightly keeled, uniform dark brown above, black below, with a yellow spot on each marginal and plastral shield. When half grown the dorsal shields become quite smooth, and are striated or spotted, with yellow upon a dark ground. The head, limbs, and tail are dark, with yellow or light brown spots and small dots. In very old specimens all these yellow marks disappear on the shell, which then becomes uniform brown or almost black. The coloration is subject to much local and individual variation, and there are two main types, the spotted and the radiate. It is difficult to say which of the two is the prettier. One male which I caught in the Alemtejo was very beautiful. The shell was almost black with a greenish shine when in the water, and had many bright yellow and whitish spots. In the radiate type the yellow is sometimes preponderant, so that each shield becomes a study of delicately painted yellow, brown, and blackish lines radiating from the centre. This variety seems to prevail in the south of Spain, decidedly so in the Marismas, also in Northern Italy, whence most of the European markets are supplied. The largest shell in the British Museum is 19 cm. = 7½ inches long. Fischer Sigwart received one from Naples which was about 9 inches long, and this seems to have been kept as a pet, since its shell had been gilt. Specimens about 5 inches in length may be considered as fully adult. There are very few reliable observations on the growth of individuals. One of F. Sigwart's grew in eleven years only about 2.5 cm. = 1 inch, when its shell was 13.4 cm. = 5¼ inches long–total weight of the tortoise 491 grammes, about 1 lb. One of my own grew from 11 to 13.2 cm. shell-length, and 8.3 to 10.6 cm. in width within eight years, but this was one of the specimens which, living in a greenhouse, did not hibernate. This European pond-tortoise is now restricted to Southern and Middle Europe, extending eastwards towards St. Petersburg and into Asia Minor, southwards into Algeria. Formerly it had a much wider range, having been found in post-glacial deposits in Southern Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and in East Anglia. Specimens have been found in the peat of the fens of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, contemporary with bones of the Beaver, Roe-deer, and Pelican. The same applies to North Germany, where its gradual disappearance from the western and central parts is obvious. Except in Central France it is now practically unknown to the west of the Elbe river. The country between the Elbe and Oder is now debatable ground, Emys being exceedingly rare. Some fifty years ago this seems to have been different, to judge from the fact that farmers were rather fond of keeping a tortoise in the water-troughs of the cattle to keep the water free from worms and other impurities. Hence arose a silly superstitious custom. It was considered equally conducive to the health of the pigs to keep a tortoise in the foul tub into which all the dish-water and kitchen-refuse–as potato-peels, sour milk, etc.,–were collected before the mess was given to the pigs.

A specimen is still occasionally caught in the Havel and Spree rivers. I myself have heard of one or two in the backwaters of the Oder near Frankfurt, but they are vanishing, and it is difficult to say exactly why. The universal lowering of the water-level owing to better drainage cannot quite account for it, since there are thousands of suitable ponds, swamps, and backwaters left. In Poland and in Eastern Prussia the tortoise is still common.

This creature lives on a strictly animal diet. Worms, insects, frogs, fishes form its main sustenance. Fishes are regularly stalked. The tortoise watches its opportunity, slowly it half crawls, half swims along the bottom, rises imperceptibly by a few gentle movements of the widely spread-out webbed feet, then opens its sharp cutting jaws wide, and makes a grab at the belly of the fish. Frogs are most easily stalked when they sit upon a floating leaf. The tortoise rises from below, and often waits with the nostrils and eyes just above the water and close to the frog. After a while it sinks, and rises again, this time actually touching the toes of the non-suspecting frog, smelling at them and deliberately biting with a sideward turn of the head.

What the jaws have got hold of is not allowed to escape again. The tortoise holds on and tears the prey to pieces with the sharp-clawed fingers. This takes a long time, only the scraped-off flesh and the intestines being eaten. The skeleton remains and sinks to the bottom, while in the case of a fish, the air-bladder floats away on the surface, and remains there as one of the surest signs of the existence of tortoises in that locality. The bones are cleaned with wonderful neatness. Some of my grass-snakes shared this fate, their backbones, with the hundreds of pairs of ribs, being picked or rather scraped clean, scarcely less well than if they had been prepared for a museum.

As a rule the prey must be in motion to be seized, unless the tortoise has watched it before, and even then the latter prefers to smell it before biting. In captivity they soon learn to eat meat, and they become very tame, but in their native haunts they are extremely shy and cautious. Fond of basking upon a stone or on the banks, with the four limbs sprawling, or with the hind-limbs stretched backwards, and with the webs spread out so as to offer as large a surface as possible to the rays of the sun, they lie motionless for hours and appear fast asleep. But the slightest noise, or any other sign of our approach, is sufficient to send them plumping into the water, and to make them scuttle along with unsuspected agility. Nothing but the audible plump of the flat body and the widening rings of the disturbed water indicate their presence. After a long time of waiting we give it up, and turn away. That very instant we see a little ripple, caused by the withdrawing of the tortoise, which had come to the surface and had been watching us, with only the nose and eyes peeping out of the water, the rest being concealed between the floating vegetation. Apparently they cannot see us well with their eyes still under water, owing to the difference of refraction, otherwise they would not peep out and then at once turn back. It is certainly not for the want of air, since they can remain below for many hours without breathing.

Although they generally feed in the water, they come on land when tame and hungry enough to take the offered food. Sometimes they make long migrations, perhaps because their old home is dried up or does not yield food enough. They hibernate during the cold season, buried in the mud, and they do not appear until the spring is well advanced. During the pairing season, on warm spring nights, they emit short piping sounds, and when they have found each other, the couple swim about together. The white, hard-shelled, long, oval eggs, averaging 25 to 15 mm., and about ten in number, are laid on land. This is a very laborious and curious business. The female having selected a suitable spot, not loose sand, but rather hard soil free from grass and other dense vegetation, prepares the ground by moistening it from the bladder and the anal water-sacs. Then it stiffens the tail and bores a hole with it, moving the tail but not the body. The hind-limbs then scoop out the hole, the broad feet moving alternately and heaping up the soil on the side, until the hole is about five inches deep, that is as far as the hind legs will reach. The eggs are laid at the bottom in one layer, divided and distributed by the feet. Lastly, the soil is put in again, and the tortoise, by repeatedly raising its body and falling down, stamps the soil firm and flat, roughens the surface a little with its claws, and leaves the nest to its fate. Nothing but an accident leads to its discovery. The young are hatched, according to locality and the kind of season, either in the same autumn or not until the next spring. Eggs laid in a garden at Kieff, in Russia, were hatched eleven months later. This implies hibernation of the embryo within the egg, and this is probably the usual course of events, resembling the conditions of the development of Sphenodon (cf. p. 299). The pretty little creatures, scarcely larger than a shilling-piece, are exceedingly difficult to rear. They require a tank with green vegetation, stones to bask on and to hide under, and also dry ground and moss for a change. They eat flies, tiny worms, tadpoles, etc., greedily enough, but for some occult reasons they do less well than many another kind of water-tortoise. Miss Durham has, however, succeeded in rearing one, which is now in its fourth year; the shell is 2 inches long, and each shield shows three annual rings around the areola. This specimen spent the winters in an unheated room under moss, not in the water.

E. blandingi, the North American species, has a more elongated and decidedly higher carapace than its smaller European relation. The carapace is dull black with many pale yellowish spots; the plastron is yellow, with a large dark patch on the outer and hinder corner of each shield. The head is dark brown above, bright yellow below and on the throat, a contrast which gives this tortoise a striking appearance. This species is extremely voracious, becomes easily tame, and spends a great part of the day on land, hiding under grass to avoid great heat, and withdrawing into the water for the night.

Clemmys.–The plastron is immovably united with the carapace, and is devoid of any transverse hinge. The skull has a complete bony temporal arch. This genus, consisting of eight species, is otherwise very much like Emys, and is truly Periarctic.

C. leprosa s. sigris (Fig. 79).–The upper jaw has a median notch for the reception of the upturned point of the lower jaw; the cutting edges of the powerful beak are smooth. The shell is flat and long-oval, nowhere serrated. The plastron does not quite fill the box. In the young the shell is nearly round, and the horny shields form three series of keels, of which the lateral pair disappear early; the shields are olive-brown, each with an orange spot or streak; the plastron is dark brown, with a yellowish margin. The adult looks very different. The shell has become much more oval, with the greatest width behind the bridge. The long shields are smooth, and in elderly specimens are without any trace of the original connective rings of growth. The general colour of the shell is uniform pale olive-grey, inclining to yellow on the plastron. The ground-colour of the soft parts is olive-grey, but the sides of the head are adorned with orange-red or yellow marks, the patch between the eye and ear and three or four stripes on the neck being especially conspicuous. The limbs have pale yellowish streaks. All these markings are, however, subject to much individual variation. While, for instance, the half-grown creatures are distinctly agreeably coloured, often with a rich brown, nicely sculptured shell, and with conspicuous orange and yellow marks on the skin, the very old ones become rather ugly, the prevailing colour varying more and more into dull uniform pale olive-grey.

The "Iberian Water-tortoise" is typical of the Iberian Peninsula, and extends through Morocco and Algeria far into North-Western Africa. Unknown to the north of the Cantabrian range, decidedly scarcer than its cousin Emys in the northern half of the Peninsula, it becomes common in the south. In the Alemtejo, in the lower parts of Andalucia and in Morocco, there is scarcely a pool, stream, or river in which it is not found, feeding on any living thing it can master, although fishes and frogs are its principal prey. When the streams and watercourses run dry, during the hot and dry season, the tortoises crowd together into the remaining pools, which soon become stagnant and filthy. But even these havens of refuge are not of lasting avail. They are soon cleared of anything edible, and the stinking water becomes dirtier and hotter day by day. Ultimately the tortoises leave the pool to hide under ledges of rocks, where they aestivate for months. This life in the muddy, slimy pools renders these tortoises peculiarly liable to the attacks of a certain fresh-water alga, which enters through the cracks in the horny shields and then flourishes in the Malpighian layer, and even in the underlying bone itself. This becomes gangrenous in patches, and the whole shell assumes a leprous appearance, hence the specific name of leprosa. Everything combines in favour of this destructive little alga. The tortoise, covered with mud, basks in the hot sun, the horny shields become brittle and crack, often peeling off in thin flakes. But those happy individuals which inhabit permanent rivers, or pools which do not dry up, are, and remain, as clean as other water-tortoises.

C. leprosa has a most disagreeable, offensive smell, something like concentrated essence of fish, due to the secretion of a pair of large glands situated beneath the skin of the inguinal region, and opening behind the bridge. Freshly caught specimens stink horribly, but when they have become accustomed to being handled, they no longer void these glands. They always withdraw into the water for the night, and the cold season is spent in the mud. Their time of propagation is still somewhat doubtful. Very young tortoises are met with in the Peninsula in March, when they are already in the rivers. Those which I imported in the summer and autumn invariably dug their nests and laid their long, oval eggs (28 to 33 mm. long) in the month of November, pairing having taken place some two or three months previously. The mode of making the nest is exactly the same as that described for Emys. As most of my specimens were kept in a greenhouse with a permanent current of warm water through their tanks, they never hibernated, nor did they pass through a torpid time in the summer, but they showed an irresistible love for the hot-water pipes, huddling together by the dozen, so that the pipes had to be screened off to prevent the creatures from getting burnt. Until this precaution was taken, they heated themselves so much that the shields and even the bones of the plastron were injured. The artificial warm temperature and the complete suppression of seasonal rest had no bad influence, most of the tortoises living with undiminished appetite for more than twelve years, but the sexual period became disturbed, pairing occurring ultimately at all times of the year. The eagerness of the males, however, had a peculiar evil secondary influence upon the females. The male tries to fasten on to its mate by biting into the collar-like fold of the neck into which the head is withdrawn, and this repeated irritation produces sores and swellings, which latter in their turn prevent the female from wiping the eyes with the back of the fore-limbs, a habit common to most, if not all, tortoises. Ultimately the eyes fester, and the tortoise, becoming practically blind, falls off its feed, leaves the water, which makes matters worse, and is very difficult to cure.

In other respects they are very hardy, and they stand acclimatisation in England perfectly. Some, thriving in a deep concreted pond, passed through the very severe winters of several years ago, hiding in the mud below the ice, and appeared in the spring in perfect health. They can also successfully pass the winter under moss and a heap of loose garden-rubbish.

C. caspica is closely allied to C. leprosa, which it represents in the Balkan Peninsula and in Asia Minor. It differs from the south-western species chiefly by having the cutting edges of the upper jaw finely denticulated, and by its prettier coloration, each shield being ornamented with yellowish streaks which form a kind of ∞ on the costals, and a ring on the marginals. The plastron is black in the young, with yellow and black patches in the adult. The head and sides of the neck are striped with yellow lines, narrowly edged with black, and the rest of the soft parts is marbled dark olive and yellow. A few other species occur in China, Japan, and North America.

Clemmys insculpta, one of the American species, ranging from Maine to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is easily recognised by the peculiar reddish-brown and brick-dust colour of the soft parts. The strongly keeled, posteriorly emarginate carapace is reddish brown, with radiating yellow lines. Each shield is delicately sculptured. The plastron, which is notched behind, is yellow, with a large black patch on the outer corner of each shield. Length of a full-grown specimen 8 inches. They frequent the rivers and ponds, but are also very fond of leaving the water, sometimes remaining for months in dry places.

Malacoclemmys of North America, with three species only, is closely allied to Clemmys, from which it differs chiefly by the very broad alveolar surface of the upper jaw, and by the more forward position of the entoplastron, this being placed anteriorly to the humero-pectoral suture. We mention this genus since one of its species, M. terrapin, is so extensively eaten in the Eastern United States. The shell is oval, slightly emarginate behind, obtusely carinated along the middle line. The upper parts of the shell are brown or greenish, with dark concentric lines; the marginals are yellow below, each with a ring of dark grey, and forming a peculiarly up-turned rim. The plastron is yellowish, either with concentric stripes and dusky lines or uniform yellow. But it is the colour of the soft parts which gives this otherwise dull-looking creature its delicately pretty appearance. The skin is, namely, greenish white with countless small black dots. The males remain much smaller than the females, and have the concentric stripes more pronounced. This species, the choicest of the edible Terrapins, frequents the salt marshes of the east coast of North America, from Rhode Island to the Gulf of Mexico, being most abundant around Charleston.

The following is a condensed account of an article which appeared in the New York Sun, 18th September 1898, the data of which were supplied by the manager of the terrapin-farm at Beaulieu, Georgia. The continued hunting and the unfailing demand for them are making them very scarce, so that enterprising men have established terrapin-farms or "crawls" for the keeping and breeding of terrapins. The "crawls" in question are near the river. The larger is 310 by 60 feet, and is divided into three compartments for three sizes. The smaller "crawl" is for the babies, and is 100 by 8 feet. Through both "crawls" runs a ditch connected with the river and making a circuit of the farm. The bottom of the "crawls" is on a level with the low tide, and is covered with a layer of mud about six inches deep. Into this the terrapins burrow in the winter. The average population of terrapins is about 40,000, one half "bulls" and the other half "heifers." The latter are much better eating, and grow to a much larger size, namely, eight inches on the plastron, while the "bulls" rarely grow over five inches long. When a female reaches six to eight inches it is called a "count." Those between five-and-a-half to six inches long are known as "two-for-threes," while those from five to five-and-a-half inches are known as "halves." They are fed exclusively on shrimps and crabs on account of the flavour, although they will eat almost anything. The 40,000 consume on an average twenty bushels of crustaceans a day. They are quite indifferent to cold. The manager saw some placed in a block of ice and frozen fast to it; after four or five days they were chopped out, thawed, and were soon as lively as ever. The statement that it takes these terrapins only seven years to attain full commercial growth is surprising, and is probably an underestimate. At the end of the large "crawl" is a board to enable the females to creep into a sand-pit, where they lay the eggs from April to June, eight to twelve forming a set. It is necessary to get the babies away from their parents as soon as they hatch, else they will be eaten. The young must not be exposed to the cold. The old ones have a large amount of curiosity. The best way of catching them is for two men to go out in a boat with a net. They row carefully along until they come to a likely spot. Then one man raps several times sharply on the boat with a stick, and if there are any terrapin about they will come to the surface just as fast as they can get there to see what is going on, and the other man scoops them up with a little net. Another way, used in the salt marshes, is for the negroes to go tramping through the mud and water. If they pass any terrapin these will rise out of the mud to see what the disturbance is. The captives are then fattened in the "crawl." When the men go in to feed them they whistle, and terrapin from all over the "crawl," thousands of them, come swimming through the water, piling over each other in their efforts to get close to the man with the shrimps and crabs.

Cistudo.–The plastron, without forming a bridge, is connected with the carapace by ligaments, and is divided into two movable lobes, the transverse hinge being so perfect that the box can be completely closed after head, legs, and tail have been withdrawn. The nuchal shield is very small; the first four neurals are large and broad, the fifth much broader than long. There are twelve pairs of marginal shields. The carapace is high and arched. The digits are almost completely free. The tail is very short. The skull is without a bony temporal arch, the quadrato-jugal and the jugal being absent. Only two species, in North America.

C. carolina of the Eastern United States is a very interesting species. Closely allied by its internal structure to the water-tortoises, it has become absolutely terrestrial; and the shape of the head, the convex shell which is coloured black and yellow or orange-brown, and the short webless fingers are all terrestrial features. But the rather long toes, provided with long and sharp claws, the broad and flat feet, enlarged by a broad fold of skin on the outer margin, the long oval eggs, the smooth covering of the head, and the preponderant animal diet, still proclaim the aquatic relationship of this tortoise. It is in fact a genus which has changed habits and features from aquatic to terrestrial life. The head is covered with a smooth skin, and the upper beak, especially in old specimens, is strongly and broadly hooked. The eyes of the males are red, those of the females are brown. The plastron of the males is concave, that of the females is flat. Large females reach a length of nearly six inches. The young are nearly round, with high, arched back and prominent keels. The keels of the middle line remain a long time, but they gradually flatten down with age, being prominent only at their posterior ends. Each dorsal shield is originally nicely sculptured, with a well-marked areola and concentric rings. Very old individuals become much flatter on the top of the shell, but the sides remain steep, so that the whole shell roughly resembles a somewhat oblong box with the corners rounded off, and the whole upper surface rubbed down quite smooth. The variations of colour are almost endless, and they occur in the same localities. I have a number of all ages from Long Island, near New York. The half-grown are beautifully reddish or orange-brown with dark patches, median keels prominent, plastron uniform black-brown. In others the dark-brown prevails over the lighter markings, which are yellower and more spotted or dotted than patched. Some of the oldest, with quite smooth shells, are black, with small, round, light yellow spots. Others are vermiculated or striped with yellow and black. The soft parts vary to the same extent, some showing on the neck a beautiful intricate pattern of yellow, reddish and brown, while in others these colours are arranged more or less in longitudinal stripes.

These "Box-tortoises" are often caught in the States and kept as pets in the gardens, and their owners mark them by cutting their initials into the plastron. These marks heal up and widen in time like letters cut into the bark of a tree. One of my specimens, certainly a very old one to judge from his hooked beak, perfectly smooth and flat shell, and from the condition of the marginals, which have the edges rubbed down quite smooth and rounded off, has two initials and the date 1837 on its plastron. Of course there is no proof that the date had been cut in that year, more than sixty-three years ago, but it was done a long time ago. The scars on those parts of the shell which touch the ground are almost effaced, and the letters and figures have become somewhat distorted owing to the usual unequal, not concentrical, peripheral growth. Moreover, this tortoise must have been already adult, although not quite fully grown, since the marks are large and were evidently put in such a size and position as to fit the available space. I may mention that this record tortoise was, when I got it, not kept in confinement, but had been picked up at large.

These Box-tortoises become very tame. Although fond of drinking quantities of water in long and slowly repeated draughts, they do not go into the water, and if they fall in accidentally they are liable to get drowned. They enjoy a mixed diet, but animal food predominates, consisting chiefly of snails, the shells of which are passed, slugs, earthworms, maggots, and soft caterpillars. Their fondness for slugs is all the more remarkable since scarcely any other Vertebrate eats these slimy, sticky molluscs; but a Box-tortoise will make a meal of two or more fat specimens of the black slug Arion, and it will eat dozens of small slugs. It first deliberately smells the prey, turns the head sidewards and gives a bite, whereupon first the intestines and then the rest are eaten. The slime is later on scraped off with the fore-limbs, or the head is rubbed against the grass. The favourite time of feeding is towards dusk or in the early dewy morning, and they are especially lively during a soft, warm rain. They also relish various kinds of fungi and fruit, for instance half-rotten bananas. Close observation of their habits gives us indications as to how the change from carnivorous to herbivorous habits may have taken place. Accidentally many a blade of grass is bitten off and swallowed together with the molluscs, also bits of rotten wood and moss, and their excrements are often full of such more or less digested matter. They are not very fond of basking, although they love warmth, creeping into the grass, where they make a shallow form by moving the shell backwards and forwards. During the cooler nights they frequently retire into a hole or under a log of wood. They require to hibernate. If kept in a warm house they become restless in the autumn, refuse food, drink and feed again after some weeks, but are liable to die during the winter. If they can find a cool place they bury themselves and sleep for several months. If left out of doors they dig into the ground, creep into a hole, at the bottom of which they half bury themselves, or they hide under a heap of garden-rubbish well out of the reach of frost. Warm April days bring them out, and the first requirement is a drink.

When walking about in search of food they assume a curious attitude, with the shell well above the ground, the long neck stretched out and raised high. Their temper varies individually. Some become tame readily and lose all shyness, and creep up to their friend to take food from his fingers. Others are decidedly shy and sulky, withdrawing with a hiss into the shell, which in some specimens shuts almost hermetically all round, and they do not come out until all imaginary danger is past. One of my males sulked thus for several months, at least we never saw anything of it except the closed shell, but it did not starve itself. Propagation takes place in the summer, the long oval hard-shelled eggs being laid in June and July.

The typical Land-tortoises are easily recognised by their feet. The digits are short, have not more than two joints, and are without any trace of webs; the metacarpals are scarcely longer than broad. The hind-feet are club-footed. The skin on the anterior side of the fore-limbs is covered with strong horny scales, frequently with dermal ossifications. The plastron is united suturally by a broad bridge with the usually strongly arched carapace. The skull has complete postorbital and temporal arches. The top of the head is covered with shields. The tail is short. There are only a few recent genera, modifications of the central and typical genus Testudo. The latter is cosmopolitan in the warmer temperate and tropical regions, except in the Australian and Austro-Malayan countries.

Cinyxis (Fig. 82) with a few species in Tropical Africa from the Gambia and from Abyssinia to the Equator is remarkable for the unique modification of its carapace, the posterior portion of which is movable, the hinge passing between the seventh and eighth marginal and the fourth and fifth costal plates, externally behind the seventh marginal and the second costal shields. In the middle of the back the hinge is imperfect, the parts being merely flexible enough to permit the posterior half of the box to be closed. The head is covered with shields.

C. belliana, of Northern Tropical Africa, has a small nuchal shield, and the margin of the carapace is smooth. Length of shell up to seven or eight inches. C. homeana, of West Africa, has likewise a small nuchal shield, but the posterior portion of the carapace descends vertically, and the marginals are strongly reverted and serrated. C. erosa (Fig. 82), also from West Africa, has no nuchal shield; the marginals are reverted and serrated, but the posterior part of the carapace is sloping, and the anterior portion of the plastron is strongly forked in front, and projects beyond the anterior border of the carapace. This peculiar creature reaches a length of nine inches. When withdrawn within the shell, which is closed behind and depressed in front, with the jagged edges of the plastron and the anterior marginals protecting the drawn-in head, it has a very quaint appearance. It lives entirely on fruit and other vegetable matter, and is said to prefer to lie in the water, while C. belliana is supposed to be entirely terrestrial.

Pyxis arachnoides, of Madagascar, a small land-tortoise, only four inches in length, has an immovable carapace, but the front lobe of the plastron is hinged.

Testudo.–The plastron is immovable, except that in old individuals of some species, e.g. T. ibera, the hinder lobe develops a transverse flexible hinge. They have existed since the Oligocene of North America and Europe; and are now represented by nearly forty species in all the tropical and warmer temperate countries excepting the Austro-Malayan and Australian region. Typically terrestrial, herbivorous and frugivorous, although occasionally varying their diet with worms, molluscs, and insects. The eggs are hard-shelled, mostly less oval than those of the aquatic and semi-aquatic tortoises. The males generally remain smaller than the females, have a slightly longer tail, and have a concave instead of a flat plastron. Most land-tortoises hibernate in the ground during the cool and cold seasons, or they aestivate during the hot and dry months of tropical countries, but this is not an invariable rule.

T. graeca, the common "Greek Tortoise." The shell is very convex, without keels, and has a smooth, not serrated margin. The nuchal shield is narrow. The fifth or last neural shield is much broader than the others. The supracaudal is usually divided in the median line, so that this is really the last pair of marginals. The plastron is notched behind; the axillary and inguinal shields are small. The scales on the anterior surface of the fore-limbs are small, and form from half-a-dozen to ten longitudinal rows. The hinder surface of the thigh is quite smooth. The tip of the tail ends in a conical, horny spur. The coloration of the shell varies somewhat, but the ground-colour is yellow, each shield with a dark brown centre and irregular patches or confluent spots towards the margin. The plastron has an irregular, broad black border. The soft parts are grey-yellowish. Some specimens are rather pale, almost lemon yellow with little black; others incline towards orange with more or less black. The middle fields of the shields of young specimens are granular, although this area is rubbed smooth with age; but the rest shows clearly marked concentric lines of growth. The eyes are dark, with a brown or bluish tinge, sometimes inclining to dark grey in very old specimens.

Full-grown females have a shell six inches in length. This species inhabits the northern half of the Balkan Peninsula, parts of Asia Minor and Syria, Italy, and most of the islands of the Mediterranean, from the Grecian Archipelago to the Balearic Islands.

T. ibera is closely allied to T. graeca, from which it differs chiefly in the following points. The last pair of marginal shields are fused into an unpaired supracaudal, the median line of division being almost obliterated. The fifth neural shield is not broader, and generally a little narrower than the others. The posterior lobe of the plastron develops with age a transverse ligamentous hinge, and is thus rendered slightly movable, especially in the females. The posterior margin of the carapace is slightly expanded in old specimens. The scales of the fore-limb are large and imbricating, and form only four or five longitudinal rows. On the middle of the exposed posterior surface of the thighs the skin carries a strong, conical, horny tubercle. The coloration is much like that of T. graeca, except that the yellow of the young inclines to pale olive. Some specimens are uniform brownish. This species reaches a much larger size than T. graeca, old females often measuring eight inches, rarely more than nine inches in length. Its home is Morocco and Asia Minor, extending into Persia. It also occurs in certain parts of Southern Andalucia, where it breeds regularly, for instance, in the sandy pine-forests of the Marismas, near the mouth of the Guadalquivir. Whether it has been introduced from Morocco, or is indigenous, is an open question. Its specific name refers to its Iberian home.

T. marginata is worth mentioning, since it is the Greek tortoise, although not that of the European markets, which are supplied by the other two species. T. marginata is restricted to Greece proper, where it is the only land-tortoise. It is less closely allied to T. graeca than to T. ibera, of which it may be called an exaggerated form. The posterior margin of the carapace is much expanded or flanged, and serrated. The supracaudal is undivided, the posterior lobe of the plastron is movable, but the large conical spur on the thighs is absent. The dorsal shields of adult specimens are black with a small yellowish patch; the ventral shields are yellowish, each with a large black triangular patch. The British Museum possesses a shell 28 cm. = 11 inches in length.

The habits of these Moorish and Greek tortoises are very much alike, and since they enjoy the distinction of frequently being kept as pets in gardens, where they are allowed to look after themselves, a great many incidental and odd observations have been made on them. They are essentially vegetable feeders, but their taste varies individually and with the season, also according to the vegetation of the country they happen to come from. Most of them enjoy juicy plants, for instance, lettuce and cabbage; the flowers of the dandelion attract them not merely by their bright colour; clover is also a favourite food, and an enclosure of grass-land with clover in it is soon cleared of the latter; grass is also taken, in default of anything better. Some of my specimens gradually bite large holes into gourds and pumpkins; and in Morocco I found them in the autumn feeding entirely on the terribly astringent green fruits of the dwarf palm Chamaerops humilis. The larger specimens bolted the fruit with the stones, passing the latter. In close captivity they often learn to take and to like bread soaked in milk or water. They drink slowly and at length, but scarcely ever when they have succulent food. There is one thing which they do not eat, namely, "black beetles," although they are warranted to do so by the men who hawk them in the streets. Worms, slugs, etc. are often mentioned as part of their occasional diet, but I am not aware that any of the hundreds which I have watched have taken such creatures, in spite of every opportunity. Their habits are very regular. They learn to know the geography of their domain thoroughly, and the spot selected for sleeping will be resorted to over and over again, be it underneath some broad leaves, under a bushy fir-tree, between a cluster of wallflowers, or between some tussocks, or even in an almost bare corner, the attractions of which are not at all obvious. Although their mental capacities cannot possibly be called brilliant, they soon learn to distinguish between different persons, and they will come up to be fed; but their memory for localities is surprising. Here is only one instance. A tortoise which had been put into an outhouse for hibernation was six months later taken to its usual large enclosure, and in the afternoon it tucked itself away on the top of a mound under precisely the same low bush where it used to sleep during the previous autumn. It could not see that spot from where it had been put down, and it did not meander about during the day, but after having enjoyed the warm sun it made straight for its favourite place. Dr. Girtanner of St. Gallen in Switzerland testifies to their appreciation of music. When the town-band began to play on the square adjoining his garden, all his tortoises crept as fast as possible towards the fence and remained there motionless with heads and necks erect. When the piece was finished they moved about, but when the next number began they were again spellbound. This he has observed, not on one but on many occasions. That they can hear, although their ears are not visible, but covered by the ordinary skin, is obvious enough from the fact that during the pairing season they emit feeble piping sounds.

They are extremely fond of basking in the hot sun, sometimes allowing themselves to be almost baked in it, but then again at other times they seem to be anxious to seek the shade. They rise late and go to bed early, being absolutely diurnal. In the summer they leave their quarters when the sun is well up, making for a sunny spot to graze. Then they lie still and bask, unless a shower causes them to retreat under shelter. After some hours' rest they feed again, and in the afternoon, long before sunset, they go to bed. Some winters in England are of course much more severe than any which these tortoises experience in their native countries. Still they manage to survive them, provided they find a place which they can burrow into, deep enough to be out of the reach of frost; and if there is a heap of mould, rotting weeds, and leaves, they are probably safe. Sometimes they are restless, coming out again in unusually mild winters without, however, taking food. If they appear too early in the spring, they run the risk of terrible colds on prolonged wet and cold days, but in the autumn they are hardier, and can stand several degrees of dry frost.

The pairing season begins in May, but lasts far into the summer. In Morocco I found them pairing as late as the month of September. The preliminaries extend over many days. The male becomes unusually active, makes a piping sound, runs after the female, draws in its head, and knocks with its shell against that of the female. This is repeated many times, until the female is excited enough to raise itself upon its hind-limbs. The eggs, only two to four in number, are laid several weeks later, and are buried in the ground. They are roundish-oval, hard-shelled, and vary according to the size of the female. Those of T. graeca measure on the average 30 by 24 mm.; those of a large specimen of T. ibera 32 to 36 by 30 mm. The newly-hatched little creatures are still quite flexible, and apparently soon bury themselves before beginning their active life in the ensuing spring.

The age which these tortoises can reach is quite unknown, but there are reliable data of individuals having been kept for many years. Rumpf^[133] kept two T. graeca in his garden at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and let them hibernate in a box with hay in the cellar. One lived 33, the other 23 years. The most famous specimen of T. ibera is "Gilbert White's Tortoise,"^[134] which had been kept for more than 40 years before it came into his possession. It used to bury itself in November and to come out in April. It died in 1794, having reached an age of fifty-four plus an unknown number of years, since there is no record of its size when it came to England. The same applies to every other specimen which has been, and is being, observed as a pet. My largest Morocco female, which has a shell 7 inches long, shows at least 25 concentric rings of growth on the shields; the last half-dozen rings are very narrow, while some of those of the central area have been rubbed down. This creature is not improbably 30 years old. A small female, which is only 5¼ inches long, has already 14 rings on its still perfect shields. Lastly, a little one, only 4 inches long, shows 7 rings. They grow fastest when they are about 6 to 7 inches long, and they then seem to be at their prime. White's tortoise, now enshrined in the National Collection, was unusually large, the shell measuring 25 cm., or nearly 10 inches; around the much-enlarged, rubbed-down areola of each shield are about 30 very narrow rings.

T. horsfieldi is easily recognised by its possessing only four claws on the fore- and hind-limbs. It is closely allied to the species last mentioned, which it seems to represent in the sandy districts of Transcaspia and the Kirghiz Steppes to Afghanistan.

T. elegans, the "Starred Tortoise" of the southern half of India and Ceylon, is easily recognised by the very convex carapace without a nuchal shield, and by the beautiful markings of the other shields, each of which has a yellow areola, whence radiate yellow streaks upon a black ground. Moreover, the dorsal shields often form humps. It reaches the length of one foot. Old specimens lose the beautiful yellow radiation, owing to a considerable amount of peeling off of the horny layers.

The habits have been carefully watched by Captain Thomas Hutton,^[135] who gives the following account. The tortoises live in the grassy jungle at the base of the hills, but owing to their colour being so blended with the rocky nature of the ground, they are with difficulty distinguished. Moreover, they remain concealed beneath shrubs or grass during the heat of the day. In the rainy season they are most active, wandering about all day, feeding and pairing. At the approach of the cold weather they select a sheltered spot and conceal themselves by thrusting their shell into some thick tuft of grass, remaining there in a sort of lethargic, but not torpid, inactivity until the hot season, at which time they remain concealed only during the heat of the day, coming out about sunset to feed.

During the hot season Hutton's captives often soaked themselves in water, and they drank a great deal. Copulation lasted about ten minutes; the females received the males from the end of June to the middle of October. On the 11th of November a female dug a pit at the root of a tuft of grass, having previously watered the spot, then digging with the hind-limbs alternately, and continuing to water the soil. In two hours she had made a hole six inches deep and four wide; she then laid four pure white eggs, each about 1¾ inches or 45 mm. long, and filled the hole again with the prepared mud, pressing it well in with the feet and with the weight of the body. The whole operation took four hours. From December to the beginning of February these tortoises were listless, they then took water and some lucerne, but did not come out again until the middle of April, well in the hot season. Both males and females wrestled in a curious way. One confronted the other, with the head and fore-limbs drawn into the shell, and with the hind-limbs planted firmly on the ground, and in this manner shoving against each other in any narrow space. Sometimes, if one succeeded in placing its shell beneath the other, he tilted his adversary over on his back, from which position he had great difficulty in recovering himself.

T. polyphemus, the "Gopher Tortoise" of the south-eastern States of North America, is one of the few American species. It is characterised by the shape of the front lobe of the plastron, which is bent upwards, and extends beyond the carapace. The nuchal shield is present, not narrow; the supracaudal is undivided. The shell is much depressed, and flattened along the vertebral region, with rounded margins. The fore-limbs are armed with very strong claws. The general colour is very dark brown above, inclining to black; brownish yellow below, with blackish patches. The length of the shell is about one foot, or even eighteen inches.

The Gopher is interesting for its habits, which are described by Agassiz, Schnee, and others. Its domicile consists of an excavation, the mouth of which is just sufficient to admit the animal, the burrow running in an oblique direction to the depth of about four feet. The whole passage is sometimes more than two yards long. It expands from the entrance, and ends in a roomy space, sometimes with a few branches of fir trees which have been dragged in either for food or as a lining. The burrow is inhabited by one pair only. When the dew is on the grass, or after rain, they emerge in search of food, which consists of grass, succulent vegetables, fruit, etc. They also eat the gum that exudes from trees, especially the resin of the pine. The eggs are laid in June, not in their domicile, but in a separate cavity near the entrance; a set consists of five eggs, almost round, and very large, namely, 40 mm., or more than one inch and a half in diameter. To capture the Gopher a deep hole is dug at the mouth of their home, into which they fall as they emerge for food. In Southern Texas and neighbouring parts of Mexico they are represented by a smaller and lighter coloured species.

T. tabulata, widely spread over Tropical South America, whence it is often brought over as a curiosity, reaches a large size, specimens nearly two feet in length being not uncommon. The shell is flat on the top, and is very elongated, without a nuchal, but with an undivided supracaudal shield. The carapace is very dark brown or black, each shield with a yellow or orange centre; the plastron is brown and yellow, the dark colour being mostly confined to the middle portion. The ground-colour of the skin of the limbs is blackish, but the scales are orange or red. The head is yellow and black. This species inhabits the forests, and lives chiefly on the fruits of trees; in captivity they are said to take bread soaked in milk or water, lemons, apples, bananas, cabbage, gourds, and also meat, at least the males.

Gigantic Land-tortoises differ from the others in no essential points except their large size. The term gigantic is, however, applied to many of them by courtesy only, since they do not exceed the dimensions of large Turtles. A truly gigantic species, T. atlas, has left its remains in the Sivalik Hills of late Miocene or early Pliocene date. The skull is between seven and eight inches long, and is well preserved, but the correctness of the dimensions of the specimen, as it now stands, restored in the National Collection, is open to doubt. The shell was probably not more than six feet long. Miocene and Pliocene Europe was also inhabited by large tortoises, with shells about four feet long, e.g. T. perpigniana, whose bony plates are one inch thick; others have been found in North America. Such large tortoises are now restricted to two widely separated regions of the world, namely the Galapagos Islands (which have received their name from these creatures, galápago being one of the Spanish terms for tortoise), and the islands in the Western Indian Ocean, namely the Mascarenes (Bourbon, Mauritius, and Rodriguez), the Comoros, Aldabra, the Amirantes, and the Seychelles. When they became extinct in Madagascar is not known, but T. grandidieri was a very large species of apparently very recent date. Of the other islands the Comoros only were inhabited by man, the others were devoid of any but small and harmless Mammals. It was on these peaceful islands that large tortoises lived in incredible numbers, and, like the Dodo of Mauritius and the Solitaire of Rodriguez, grew to a size far beyond that of their less favourably placed continental relations. The same applies to the tortoises of the Galapagos Islands. Plenty of food, a congenial equable climate, and absence of enemies enabled them to enjoy existence to the fullest extent. There was nothing for them to do but to thrive, to feed, to propagate, to grow, and to vary. At least there was nothing to check variation within reasonable limits. Scattered over the many islands, they were prevented from inter-breeding, and thus it has come to pass that not only every group of islands, but in the case of the Galapagos almost every island, has or had its own particular kind, be these called varieties, races, forms, or species.

There are four features of special interest. First, these tortoises grow to a large size, and there are no small species on any of these islands. Secondly, they vary much individually. Thirdly, each island or group of islands has developed its own kind. Lastly, there is the widely spread tendency to reduce the thickness of the bony plates of the carapace, in spite of its size. In some cases, notably T. vosmaeri of Rodriguez, the bony shell is reduced to apparently the utmost limit compatible with mechanical safety. The horny shields are, or were, however, well developed, sometimes much more so than in other recent land-tortoises. Whatever were the original reasons for the development of a strong shell in tortoises, they cannot have prevailed in these islands.

Where did all these tortoises come from, and how did they get to these oceanic islands? Accidental transport or migration are out of the question. Land-tortoises are drowned within a few hours. Moreover, there are none of their kind on the continents of Africa, Asia, and South America, although they had a much wider distribution in past geological ages. Consequently we have to assume that they are descendants of tortoises once populating the land which, except the islands, lies now below the western Indian ocean. The existence of this, "Lemuria" or "Gondwana," came to an end in Mid-Tertiary times. The large tortoises on the remaining continents died out–in any case they are gone, while those which lived on, or retreated to, what became the present islands, survived and flourished.

The tortoises were not left in peace with the advent of man, who found that they were good to eat. They were first exterminated on the Mascarene Islands. In 1759 four small vessels were specially appointed for the service of bringing tortoises from Rodriguez to Mauritius; one vessel carried a cargo of 6000; and altogether more than 30,000 were imported into Mauritius within the space of eighteen months. Dr. Günther very properly remarks that many of these tortoises must have been small-sized specimens, and that many of them were probably used for provisioning passing Government vessels. Anyhow an inter-insular traffic was carried on, and there are records of superfluous tortoises having been turned loose, at the end of the voyage, in distant islands, even in Java. Importation and exchange of choice specimens, by way of presents, seems also to have taken place. All this makes it now actually impossible to trace the original habitat of the few surviving specimens with anything like certainty. At the beginning of this century the large tortoises had been nearly cleared off most of the islands, and at the present time only the south island of Aldabra enjoys the reputation of still possessing some really indigenous tortoises. The few survivors on the other islands are said to have been introduced. The small stock at Aldabra is now under Government protection. Representatives of various species will linger on for a little time to come, when they are kept as pets on some tropical islands, but those which have been brought to Europe are of course doomed.

We can mention only a few of the large tortoises which have become famous, not to say historical. A fascinating résumé of the whole complicated question has been given by Dr. Günther.^[136]

Testudo gigantea s. elephantina s. hololissa s. ponderosa, originally confined to the North Island of Aldabra, where this kind has been completely exterminated, is now still to be found in the Seychelles in considerable numbers, introduced there by planters, and kept in a state of semi-domestication. A very large specimen was received by the Hon. Walter Rothschild, at Tring, in 1893. In 1897 its shell measured 40¼ inches in length, 52¼ over the curve, and 50 inches across the curve transversely; it weighed 358 lbs. The measurements taken in previous years are unfortunately not free from mistakes. "Whenever the temperature was over 60° F. this tortoise had a free run of 350 acres of grass park, and when the temperature showed permanently below 58°, it was kept in an orchid house from September to June. When at liberty in the park it lived entirely on grass, but in the hothouse it fed on carrots, cabbage, lettuce, and several other vegetables"; it was also very fond of rotten fruit. To this species belongs the large tortoise which has been living at St. Helena for more than the last hundred years.

T. daudini is the species of the South Island of Aldabra. Voeltzkow, in 1895, succeeded in carrying off seven specimens. He gives the following description:–The island is an atoll, cut through in three places, with a greatest length of about twenty miles. The chief hindrance in the search for the tortoises is the impenetrability of the island. The soil consists entirely of sharp water-worn corals, with their points uppermost, while the whole is covered with such thick masses of low scrub, that a way has to be cut with an axe, so that an extended search over a large area is out of the question. To land on the outside is dangerous, on account of the heavy surf; while landing from the inside of the atoll is much hindered by the dense thickets of mangrove trees. As drinking water, and that very bad, is only found in one place, rainwater has to be collected from the natural hollows, and carried along in tanks. Thousands of mosquitoes prevent one remaining over night in those places which the tortoises frequent. Then at last, when one has discovered, by a stroke of luck, one of these creatures, in the thick scrub, where they hide during the heat of the day, the real hard work begins, namely, the conveyance of the beast. Six reached Europe alive, two of them were sent to Frankfort, and the four others to Hamburg. Mr. Rothschild received a male of T. daudini, which, until its recent death, was the largest living tortoise known. The length of its shell was 55 inches, or 67½ inches over the curve; total weight 560 lbs. This specimen had a chequered career. Although its original home must have been the Aldabra atoll, it had been known for many years on Egmont Island, one of the Chagos Islands. According to tradition, it had been there some 150 years, but the first settlement on that island was formed from Mauritius only at the beginning of this century. The owner of the tortoise, M. Antelme, took it to Mauritius, whence it came to England. On the Egmont Island it used to bury itself for six months in the ground without eating anything.