The WOOD-TERRAPIN, E. insculpta, is eleven inches long; color brown tinged with reddish, and

THE RED-BELLIED TERRAPIN.

THE WOOD-TERRAPIN.

with radiating yellow lines; it frequents fresh waters, and is sometimes called the FreshWater Terrapin; but being often met with in woods at a distance from water, the name given above has been bestowed upon it. It is harmless, but when irritated will snap at the offender. Found from Canada to Pennsylvania.

MUHLENBERG'S TORTOISE, E. Muhlenbergii, is four inches long; shell dark brown, with irregular lines of dingy yellow; it is terrestrial, preferring moist places. Found from New York to Pennsylvania.

The GEOGRAPHIC TORTOISE, E. geographica, is ten to eleven inches long; shell olive-brown, with paler meandering lines; common in Western New York. The PSEUDO-GEOGRAPHIC TORTOISE, E. pseudo-geographica, same size as the

preceding, and in color much resembling it, is found in the western lakes. Other species are as follows: the YELLOW-BELLIED TERRAPIN, E. serrata, twelve inches long; found from Virginia to Georgia: the CHICKEN-TORTOISE, E. reticulata, ten inches long; found from North Carolina to Georgia: the FLORIDA TERRAPIN, E. Floridana, fourteen inches long; found in East Florida: the MOBILE TERRAPIN, E. Mobilensis, thirteen inches long; found in Alabama: the OREGON TERRAPIN, E. Oregonensis, seven inches long; prefers running streams; found in the Oregon River: the HIEROGLYPHIC TORTOISE, E. hieroglyphica, twelve inches long; found in Tennessee: the CUMBERLAND TORTOISE, E. Cumberlandensis, five and a half inches long; also found in Tennessee: the E. concinna, eight and a half inches long; found in Georgia rivers: the E. Troostii, eight inches long; found in the Cumberland River.

It thus appears that fifteen or twenty species of this genus are known and described in the United States, and, according to De Kay, including nearly all the known fresh-water tortoises in America; it is probable that farther investigation will bring others to light, and doubtless the range of many we have noticed will prove to be more extensive than we have indicated. Genus KINOSTERNON: Kinosternon.—This includes the MUD-TORTOISE, K. Pennsylvanicum, six inches long; shell olive-brown; it has a strong musky odor; inhabits ditches and muddy ponds, and will often take the hook; preys on fishes and small aquatic insects; extensively distributed throughout. the United States. The plastron is divided into three sections, the first and the last only being movable.

Genus STERNOTHERUS: Sternotherus.-This includes the MUSKTORTOISE, S. odoratus; its length is

three and a half inches; color usually obscured by mud, but when it is cleaned it appears to be

of an olive-brown or green color; has a strong musky odor, is very active and vigorous, and is found in most of the ponds and ditches from Maine to Florida. It has the various popular titles of Musk-Tortoise, Mud-Turtle, Mud-Terrapin, and Stink-Pot. In this species the plastron is bivalve, the anterior section only being movable.

THE TESTUDINIDÆ OR LAND TORTOISES.

In these the carapace is convex and solid, the ribs being united together throughout their length; the plastron is also solid, the feet short, stout, and somewhat clubbed, the toes being almost entirely concealed under the skin, and terminated by blunt nails, of which there are usually five upon each of the anterior, and four upon each of the posterior feet. The head is rather small, and covered with shields; the jaws are horny, and destitute of lips. The head, limbs, and tail can be completely retracted within the cavity of the shell, and in some cases the plastron is furnished with movable lobes, by which the aperture can be completely closed. The surface of the carapace is covered with horny shields, which touch each other at the edges, and exhibit concentric lines of growth; at the hinder part of the carapace, immediately over the tail, the caudal shields which in the preceding families are usually separate, are here united into a single broad plate. The Land Tortoises are generally of small size. They are terrestrial in their general habits, although most of them can swim immersed in the water. They retire to holes which they find or dig in the earth, and remain in a torpid state through the winter, even in climates where this season is not severe. They are very slow in their movements, and live entirely upon vegetable matter. Like the rest of the Chelonian reptiles, they are far more abundant in warm than in temperate climates. There is no kind of tortoise in the British Islands or in Ireland.

Genus TESTUDO: Testudo.-The COMMON LAND TORTOISE of Europe, T. Græca, is the only species found in that quarter of the world, and there it is not common, except in the southern parts. Its length is eight to eleven inches, and it seldom weighs over three pounds. It lives on roots, fruits, and insects. The flesh is extensively used in Greece. The eggs, about five in number, the size of those of a pigeon, are laid in June. The upper shell is composed of thirtysix parts or plates; it is convex, and so strong that a cart may pass over it without injuring it. This species is very tenacious of life; one kept in the garden of Lambeth Palace, near London, lived to the age of one hundred and twenty years, and other cases are recorded of still greater longevity. In winter, even in warm climates, it retires to some hole or cavern, where it remains till spring, imbedded in grass, leaves, or moss. It is common around the Mediterranean, as well in Africa as Asia. Forbes, in his Travels in Asia Minor, says: "Among Lycian reptiles, the tortoise is the most conspicuous and abundant. The number of these animals straying about the plains, and browsing on the fresh herbage in spring, astonishes the traveler. In April they commence love-making. Before we were aware of the cause, we were often surprised, when wandering among ruins and waste places, at hearing a noise as if some invisible geologist was busily occupied close by, trimming his specimens. A search in the direction of the noise discovered the hammer in the shape of a gentleman tortoise, who, not being gifted with vocal powers, endeavored to express the warmth of his affection to his lady-love by rattling his shell against her side. The ardor of the tortoise is celebrated by Ælian. In ditches and stagnant waters the

FRESH-WATER TORTOISE, Emys Caspica, is equally plentiful. In fine weather long rows of them may be seen sunning themselves on the banks; whence, on being alarmed, they would waddle and plunge with great rapidity into the water, apparently always following a leader, who made the first plunge from one end of the row."

The INDIAN TORTOISE, T. Indica, often grows to the length of three feet. It is found extensively in the warm parts of Asia and the Asiatic Islands. A specimen in the London Zoological Gardens measured four feet four inches. This had lived seventy-seven years in a garden at Port Louis, in the island of Mauritius.

The Testudo planiceps, very similar to the preceding, is abundant in the Galapagos Islands. Mr. Darwin says it "is very fond of water, drinking large quantities, and wallowing in the mud. The larger islands alone possess springs, and these are always situated toward the central parts, and at a considerable elevation. The tortoises, therefore, which frequent the lower districts, when thirsty are obliged to travel from a long distance. Hence broad and well-beaten paths radiate in every direction from the wells even down to the sea-coast, and the Spaniards, by following them up, first discovered the watering-places. When landed at Chatham Island, I could not imagine what animal traveled so methodically along the well-chosen tracks. Near the springs it was a curious spectacle to behold many of these great monsters-one set eagerly traveling onward with outstretched neeks, and another set returning, after having drunk their fill. When the tortoise arrives at the spring, quite regardless of any spectator it buries its head in the water above its eyes, and greedily swallows great mouthfuls, at the rate of about ten in a minute. The inhabitants say each animal stays three or four days in the neighborhood of the water, and then returns to the lower country. For some time after a visit to the springs, the urinary bladder of these animals is distended with fluid, which is said gradually to decrease in volume, and to become less pure. The inhabitants, when walking in the lower district, and overcome with thirst, often take advantage of this circumstance by killing a tortoise, and if the bladder is full, drinking its contents. In one I saw killed the fluid was quite limpid, and had only a very slightly bitter taste. The inhabitants, however, always drink first the water in the pericardium, which is described as being best." These tortoises are exceedingly numerous in these islands; their flesh is delicate and good. Mr. Darwin says it "is largely employed, both fresh and salted; and a beautifully clear oil is prepared from the fat. When a tortoise is caught, the man makes a slit in the skin near its tail, so as to see inside its body, whether the fat under the dorsal plate is thick. If it is not, the animal is liberated, and it is said to recover soon from this strange operation."

There are several other species of this genus in Asia, Africa, and South America.
Genus CISTUDA: Cistuda.-This includes the Box-Tortoises, which are distinguished by a

and confluent blotches of yellow; these figures and colors, however, are variable in form and tint. It is very timid and gentle; feeds on fruit, insects, edible mushrooms, &c.; common on dry land; frequently found in moist places; never takes to the water from choice, and would be drowned if immersed in it for a long time. It is sometimes kept in cellars, from an idea that it drives out the rats; Dr. De Kay put one in his cellar, and found it soon after devoured by the rats. It goes into winter-quarters as early as September. Found from Canada to Florida.

BLANDING'S TORTOISE, C. Blandingii, is larger than the preceding; the shell seven to eight

gentlemen think it possible that this gigantic reptile, which measured about eighteen feet in length, existed down to the human era, and that it may thus have given rise to the extraordinary traditions of the Hindoos, which attribute the most important parts in the creation of the world to gigantic tortoises.

ORDER 2. LORICATA.

The term Loricata, derived from the Latin, signifies animals covered with a corselet or coat of mail, and is descriptive of the Crocodiles and their allied species. These are marked by a dermal skeleton, composed above of numerous large, square, bony plates, set in the leathery corium or hide; the lower parts are covered with wrinkled skin; they have an elongated head; the mouth long, and opening as though both jaws moved, which, however, is not the case; the upper one only is movable with the entire head. The teeth, which are confined to the jaws, are very formidable. These animals are all oviparous; the eggs, being encased with a hard covering, are laid by the females in warm, sandy places, where they are hatched by the sun, the parents sometimes taking no further care of their progeny. They are exceedingly voracious, and abound in the fresh waters of warm climates. Some species hide their prey under water for several days, until it begins to putrefy, when they devour it.

Genus CROCODILE: Crocodilus. Of this there are several species in Africa, Asia, and America, but none in Europe or Australia. The most celebrated is the EGYPTIAN or COMMON CROCODILE, C. vulgaris, twenty to thirty feet long; the teeth are numerous, large, conical, and disposed in a single row on each side of the upper and lower jaws; the body is depressed, and covered above with solid, carinated, bony shields; the tail is long and flattened at the sides; gape extending beyond the skull; each fore-foot armed with five claws and the hinder ones with four. Except the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus, the bulk of the crocodile perhaps exceeds that of every terrestrial animal; no fishes frequenting fresh water equal it, and but a few species of those belonging to the seas. The largest are not less than thirty feet in length, and one of only half that size is five feet in circumference; the body stands low on the ground, and the animal universally presents a dull and sluggish aspect. Nevertheless, its motions in pursuit of prey are not slow; and the difficulty which it finds in turning affords the surest means of escape on land; its agility in water is infinitely greater. These facts are better illustrated when the animal is roused to action. Its natural abode is in the water, for scarcely onefourth of its existence is passed on the earth. The muddy edges and thick reeds of slow and tranquil streams are its favorite haunts; and it sometimes descends rivers to within the flowing of the tide. On leaving them, it advances always with a slow pace, nearly in a straight line, its belly frequently dragging on the ground, and its head commonly elevated. However, it is seldom seen standing, and its chief enjoyment seems to be in lying in a state of absolute quiescence. When in pursuit of prey, it swims gently and silently, just on a level with the water, until it approaches the place where some terrestrial animal comes to quench its thirst. Then curving

its tail, it strikes the animal a violent blow, which is invariably in the direction of the water, and at the same time toward its own mouth.

Should the animal surprised be of large size, such as an ox or a horse, the crocodile adopts another maneuver, in seizing it by the nostrils, and forcibly dragging it under the water to be drowned. When a tortoise is seized, the crocodile raises its head above water, and with the inconceivable strength of its jaws, crushes the shell in pieces. Men, and particularly negroes, are said to be its favorite prey, and it is greedy after the flesh of dogs; and hence, the negroes that hunt the crocodile are accustomed to beat the dogs on purpose that their howling may attract it from its haunts. The prey, being drowned, is conveyed to some sub-aquatic hole or receptacle, and left to putrefy before it is devoured; but the crocodile cannot feed in the water; it would then, as is usually credited, experience the same fate as its victim; therefore, except small fishes, the prey is always carried to the land. Its structure, also, is such, that it must rise to the surface once in an hour, or an hour and a half, for breathing. Nothing that it once seizes can escape; it never quits its hold; even strong levers forced between the jaws for that purpose have proved ineffectual; and, shaking its prey to pieces, it swallows it without mastication. Much