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

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 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.

the year 1753, a hundred and twenty years afterwards; and at last it perished from an unfortunate neglect of the gardener*.-In the year 1765, a Tortoise was living in the garden of Samuel Simmons, Esq. at Sandwich in Kent, which was known to have been there from about the year 1679, but how long before that period no one could say with certainty. There is, however, good reason for supposing it to have been brought thither from the West Indies by a gentleman of the name of Boys, who was owner of the premises several years before the first period. This animal died in the winter of 1767. It appeared that it had endeavoured (according to its annual custom) to burrow into the ground; but having selected for this purpose a spot near an old vine, its progress was obstructed by the roots, and it probably had not strength enough to change its situation, as it was found dead with only half its body covered. About thirty years before its death, it got out of the garden, and was much injured by the wheel of a loaded waggon, which went over it, and cracked its upper shell.

The horrid experiments of Rhedi, to prove the extreme vital tenacity of the Tortoise, are a disgraceto 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

* Bib. Topog. Brit. No. xxvii.

+ Gentleman's Magazine, vol. Iv. p. 253.

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 previously 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 that the blows may be heard at a considerable distancet.

In Greece these Tortoises form an article of food. The inhabitants also swallow the blood without any culinary preparation, and are very par tial to the eggs, when made palatable by boiling. In the gardens of some part 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 youngones come forth. The Tortoises are kept in banks of earth t.

THE SNAKE TORTOISE §.

This animal inhabits the stagnant waters of North

* La Cepede, i. 189.

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

Skippon's Travels: Churchill's Coll. vi. 501.

SYNONYMS. Testudo serpentina. Linn. Serrated Tortoise." Penn. Snapping Tortoise, in some parts of America, Snake Tortoise. Shaw. Shaw's Gen. Zool. vol. 3. tab. 19.

America, and when full grown weighs from fifteen to twenty pounds.

The shield is oval, and somewhat depressed: the middle pieces, which are thirteen in number, each rise into a kind of obtuse point. The margin, near the tail, is deeply serrated. The head is large, flat, triangular, and covered with a warty skin. The mouth is wide, and the mandibles are sharp. The neck, though it appears short and thick when the animal is at rest, is capable of being stretched out to a third of the length of the shell. The toes are connected by a web, and the claws are long and stout. The tail is straight, and about two-thirds of the length of the shell. In its general colour this species is of a dull chestnut brown, paler beneath than above.

It preys on fish, young water-fowl, &c. which it seizes with great force, at the same time stretching out its neck and hissing. Whatever it once seizes in its mouth it holds so tenaciously, that it will suffer itself to be raised up rather than quit its hold. It lies concealed in muddy waters in such a manner as to leave out only a part of its back, appearing like a stone or rough piece of wood; by which means it is enabled the more easily to lay hold of such snimals as unguardedly venture near it.