W. De Veau.—The different species of the order Chelonia, to which turtles and tortoises belong, are distinguished mainly by the limbs. The common fresh-water turtles have distinct toes, which are webbed and provided with long nails. They are easy and powerful swimmers, but are very helpless on land. They feed upon all kinds of aquatic worms and insects. The tortoises, or land turtles, have short clubbed feet adapted for travelling on the ground, and stout, short claws. They feed upon roots, vegetables, fruit, and small bugs and flies. Their upper shell is more rounded than that of the water turtle. They are capable of swimming, but seldom enter the water.
W. S. B.—Alaric the Goth was proclaimed King of the Visigoths about a.d. 400. He was a bold and artful warrior, and under his leadership the Goths ravaged Greece, and entered Athens. He afterward determined to invade Italy, and after numerous repulses and misfortunes his armies succeeded in entering Rome in 410, eleven hundred and sixty-three years after the foundation of the city, which for six hundred years previous to the Gothic conquest had remained unviolated by the presence of any foreign enemy. Alaric, who had already embraced Christianity, showed much moderation in his treatment of the vanquished city, and after a short occupation he retired his troops, and proceeded to ravage Southern Italy. He was about to invade Sicily, and form an expedition to Africa, when his death, after a short illness, put an end to his conquests. His army, anxious to conceal his death, and even his burial-place, from the enemy, employed a band of captives to divert the course of the Busento, a small river which washes the walls of Cozenza, an ancient fortified town, and secretly at night a grave was dug in the river-bed, and the body of the dead chieftain was buried. The waters of the Busento were then turned back, and underneath the peaceful river the grave of the warlike Goth was securely concealed. His death occurred in 410, only a few months after his triumphal entry into Rome.
Gertrude C.—Your letter is very gratifying, and we are sorry we can not accede to your request, but the article in question would occupy too large a space in Young People.
Favors are acknowledged from Hamilton W., Willie C. Bartlett, Isabelle Van Brunt, M. L. Hannam, Macy Walcutt, C. F. Moses.
Correct answers to puzzles are received from Ida Belle Diserens, A. H. Ellard, Mary R. De La Mater, Harvey B. Ridgway, Miss N. J. Tiddy, Nella Coover, N. Bumpus, Clarence J. Washington, W. S. Ferguson, May Wells, H. A. Bent.