Highly interesting details concerning the Galapagos giant tortoises and their habits are contained in Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle." At the time of that illustrious naturalist's visit they were still very abundant in the islands. He remarked that they abounded in both the higher and damper and the lower and arid districts, but gave preference to the former. The old males were invariably the largest, growing to such a size that they required six or eight men to lift them, and yielded as much as 200 lbs. of good, highly nutritious meat. On some of the islands there was no water; and in these cases, as also when they occurred in the dry and arid lowlands, they were observed to feed chiefly on the succulent cactuses. When water was plentiful, the tortoises exhibited a great fondness for it, drinking large quantities and wallowing in the mud. In the larger islands, where wells and springs existed in the higher and damper portions, regular well-beaten paths radiated in every direction, indicating the routes, like sheep-tracks, regularly followed by the tortoises to and from the water-holes. It was these tracks which betrayed their presence and led to their first discovery by the older Spanish navigators. When travelling long distances to the watering-places, it is recorded that they march night and day, pursuing the "even tenor of their way" at the rate of sixty yards an hour—one yard per minute, or four miles per day! During the breeding-season the larger males indulge in hoarse roarings or bellowings that can be heard for a considerable distance. The female deposits her eggs either in the sand, where this is plentiful, covering them up again, or, where the ground is rocky, drops them indiscriminately in any crevice or depression encountered. The eggs are white, spherical, and hard-shelled, as in all tortoises, and somewhat exceed those of a hen in bulk.
The very antithesis of the giant land-tortoises of the Galapagos Islands is the small and familiar Grecian Tortoise, frequently exposed for sale on hand-barrows in the London streets, and acquired by the unsophisticated suburban resident as a quaint but not altogether estimable garden pet. Like the majority of tortoises, this is a vegetarian, and with epicurean tastes that will guide it instinctively to select your choicest lettuces and the gems of your horticultural triumphs for the delectation of its fastidious appetite. The Grecian tortoise rarely exceeds 5½ inches in length, and is abundant throughout South-eastern Europe, Sicily, Italy, and the Grecian Archipelago, extending thence to Syria. In Algeria an almost identical tortoise occurs which grows to the greater length of 9 inches; while Greece produces yet a third form, the so-called Margined Tortoise, which attains the greater length of 11 inches, and is distinguished by the colour of the carapace usually being black, with a small spot of yellow on each shield-like plate. All three of the foregoing species are collectively imported by shiploads for sale in England, and it would be interesting to know what fate befalls them. In Greece and Sicily they are regularly placed on the market as an article of food. When acclimatised in England, and even in their warmer native country, these Grecian tortoises bury themselves in the earth and hibernate during the cold winter months.
Photo by S. G. Payne & Son, Aylesbury, by permission of Hon. Walter Rothschild.
ELEPHANT-TORTOISE.
Note the small size of the head with relation to the huge carapace.
Next to the typical Land-tortoises the so-called Hinged Tortoises demand brief notice. The several members of this little group are denizens of tropical Africa, and notable for the circumstance that the hinder portion of their carapace is united with the anterior one by a movable ligamentous hinge. As a result of this peculiarity the animal, when retracted within its shell, can entirely close up the hinder aperture. None of these forms exceed a length of 9 inches.
In another group, distinguished by the title of Box-tortoises, a ligamentous hinge is developed across the centre of the lower shell, or plastron, which, being freely movable with relation to the upper shell, enables the animal, when retracted, to completely close up both the anterior and posterior carapace apertures. The box-tortoises are natives of the South-eastern United States and Mexico, and, in addition to the foregoing structural peculiarity, are distinguished by the high or vaulted contour of their carapace. In some the toes are slightly webbed, and their habits are mainly carnivorous, indicating affinity with the flesh-eating and essentially aquatic Terrapins.
Between the two, however, have been intercalated a little group, known as the Pond-tortoises, one species of which is found in Southern Europe, and a nearly allied one in North America. These pond-tortoises are distinguished by the smooth and depressed form of the carapace; the toes are fully webbed, fitting them for an aquatic life; while a ligamentous hinge, separating the anterior and posterior moieties of the plastron, enables them to cover in and protect their retracted head and limbs, after the manner of the Box-tortoises. The carapace of the European pond-tortoise does not exceed 7½ inches in length, and is usually dark brown or black, ornamented with yellow dots or radiating streaks. This species inhabits both ponds and running water, and during the daytime creeps out on the banks, like the Crocodiles, to bask in the sun. As with the Crocodiles, however, the daytime does not represent the period of its greatest activity, this being during the night. The pond-tortoises are highly esteemed for the table in the countries where they are indigenous.
