sweets to venom, so we cannot discover the manner by which fishes become thus dangerous; and it is well for us of Europe that we can thus wonder in security. It is certain that with us, if fishes, such as carp or tench, acquire any disagreeable flavour from the lakes in which they have been bred, this can be removed by their being kept some time in finer and better water; there they soon clear away all those disagreeable qualities their flesh had contracted, and become as delicate as if they had been always fed in the most cleanly manner. But this expedient is with us rather the precaution of luxury than the effect of fear; we have nothing to dread from the noxious qualities of our fish, for all the animals our waters furnish are wholesome.

Happy England! where the sea furnishes an abundant and luxurious repast, and the fresh waters an innocent and harmless pastime; where the angler, in cheerful solitude, strolls by the edge of the stream, and fears neither the coiled snake nor the lurking crocodile; where he can retire at night with his few trouts, to borrow the pretty description of old Walton, to some friendly cottage, where the landlady is good and the daughter innocent and beautiful: where the room is cleanly, with lavender in the sheets, and twenty ballads stuck about the wall! There he can enjoy the company of a talkative brother sportsman, have his trouts dressed for supper, tell tales, sing old tunes, or make one in a catch! There he can talk of the wonders of Nature with learned admiration, or find some harmless sport to content him, and pass away a little time without offence to God or injury to man!

BOOK IV.-CHAP I.

THE DIVISION OF SHELL FISH.

In describing the inhabitants of the water, a class of animals oceur that mankind, from the place of their residence, have been content to call fish; but that naturalists, from their formation, have justly agreed to be unworthy of the name. Indeed, the affinity many of this kind bear to the insect tribe may very well plead for the historian who ranks them rather as insects. However, the common language of a country must not be slightly invaded; the names of things may remain, if the philosopher be careful to give precision to our ideas of them.

There are two classes of animals, therefore, inhabiting the water, which commonly receive the name of fishes, entirely different from those we have been describing, and also very distinct from each other. These are divided by naturalists into "crustaceous" and "testaceous" animals both, totally unlike fishes to appearance, seem to invert the order of Nature; and as those have their bones on the inside, and their muscles hung upon them for the purpose of life and motion, these, on the contrary, have all their bony parts on the outside and all their muscles within. Not to talk mysteriously all who have seen a lobster or an oyster perceive that the shell in these bears a strong analogy to the bones of other animals, and that by these shells the animal is sustained and defended.

Crustaceous fish, such as the crab and the lobster, have a shell not quite of a stony hardness, but rather resembling a firm crust, and in some measure capable of yielding. Testaceous fish, such as the oyster or cockle, are furnished with a shell of stony hardness very brittle, and incapable of yielding. Of the crusta ceous kinds are the lobster, the crab, and the tortoise; of the testaceous, that numerous tribe of oysters, mussulls, cockles, and sea-snails, which offer with infinite variety.

The crustaceus tribe seems to hold the middle rank

between fishes, properly so called, and those snail-like animals that receive the name of testaceous fishes. Their muscles are strong and firm, as in the former; their shell is self-produced, as among the latter. They have motion, and hunt for food with great avidity, like the former. They are incapable of swimming, but creep along the bottom, like the latter: in short, they form the link that unites these two classes, that seem so very opposite in their natures.

Of the testaceous fishes we will speak hereafter. As to animals of the crustaceous kind, they are very numerous; their figure offers a hundred varieties; but as to their nature, they are obviously divided into two very distinct kinds, differing in their habits and their conformation. The chief of one kind is the lobster; the chief of the other the tortoise. Under the lobster we rank the prawn, the craw-fish, the shrimp, the sea-crab, the land-crab, and all their varieties. Under the seatortoise, the turtle, the hawkbill-turtle, the land-tortoise, and their numerous varieties.

same.

CHAP. II.

CRUSTACEOUS ANIMALS OF THE LOBSTER KIND.

However different in figure the lobster and crab may seem, their manners and conformation are nearly the With all the voracious appetites of fishes, they are condemned to lead an insect life at the bottom of the water; and, though pressed by continual hunger, they are often obliged to wait till accident brings them their prey. Though without any warmth in their bodies, or even without red blood circulating through their veins, they are animals wonderfully voracious. Whatever they seize upon that has life is sure to perish, though never so well defended; they even devour each other; and, to increase our surprise still more, they may in some measure be said to eat themselves-as they change their shell and their stomach every year, and their old stomach is generally the first morsel that serves to glut the new.

The lobster is an animal of so extraordinary a form, that those who first see it are apt to mistake the head for the tail; but it is soon discovered that the animal moves with its claws foremost, and that the part which plays within itself by joints, like a coat of armour, is the tail. The two great claws are the lobster's instruments of provision and defence; these, by opening like a pair of nippers, have great strength, and take a firm hold; they are usually notched like a saw, which still more increases their tenacity. Beside these powerful instruments, which may be considered as arms, the lobster has eight legs, four on each side, and these, with the tail, serve to give the animal its progressive and sideling motion. Between the two claws is the animal's head, very small, and furnished with eyes that seem like two black horny specks on each side; and these it has a power of advancing out of the socket and drawing in at pleasure. The mouth, like that of insects, opens the long way of the body, not crossways, as with man and the higher race of animals. It is furnished with two teeth for the comminution of its food; but as these are not sufficient, it has three more in the stomach-one on each side and the other below. Between the two teeth there is a fleshy substance in the shape of a tongue. The intestines consist of one long bowel, which reaches from the mouth to the vent; but what this animal differs in from all others is, that the spinal-marrow is in the breast-bone. It is furnished with two long feelers or horns, that issue on each side of the head, and seem to correct the dimness of its sight, and apprise the animal of its danger or of its prey. The tail, or that jointed instrument at the other end, is the grand instrument of motion; and with this it can raise

itself in the water. Under this we usually see lodged the spawn in great abundance-every pea adhering to the next by a very fine filament, which is scarcely perceivable. Every lobster is a hermaphrodite, and is supposed to be self-impregnated! The ovary, or place where the spawn is first produced, is backwards towards the tail, where a red substance is always found, and which is nothing but a cluster of peas that are yet too small for exclusion. From this receptacle there go two canals, that open on each side at the jointures of the shell, at the belly; and through these passages the peas descend to be excluded, and placed under the tail, where the animal preserves them from danger for some time, until they come to maturity; when, being furnished with limbs and motion, they drop off into the water.

When the young lobsters leave the parent they immediately seek for refuge in the smallest clefts of rocks, and in such like crevices at the bottom of the sea where the entrance is but small, and the opening can be easily defended. There, without seeming to take any food, they grow larger in a few weeks' time, from the mere accidental substances which the water washes to their retreats. By this time, also, they acquire a hard, firm shell, which furnishes them with both offensive and defensive armour. They then begin to issue from their fortresses, and boldly creep along the bottom, in hopes of meeting with more diminutive plunder. The spawn of fish, the smaller animals of their own kind, but chiefly the worms that keep at the bottom of the sea, supply them with plenty. They keep in this manner close among the rocks, busily employed in scratching up the sand with their claws for worms, or surprising such heedless animals as fall within their grasp; thus they leave little to apprehend except from each other; for in tlem, as among fishes, the large are the most formidable of all other enemies of the small.

But this life of abundance and security is soon to have a most dangerous interruption; for the body of the lobster still continues to increase, whilst its shell remains unalterably the same; the animal becomes too large for its habitation, and, imprisoned within the crust that has naturally gathered round it, there comes on a necessity of getting free. The young of this kind, therefore, which grow faster, as I am assured by the fishermen, change their shell oftener than the old, who come to their full growth, and who remain in the same shell often for two years together. In general, however, all these animals change their shell once a-year; and this is not only a most painful operation, but also subjects them to every danger. Their molting season is generally about the beginning of summer, at which time their food is in plenty, and their strength and vigour in the highest perfection. But soon all their activity ceases; they are seen forsaking the open parts of the deep and seeking some retired situation among the rocks, or some outlet where they may remain in safety from the attacks of their various enemies. For some days before they change, the animal discontinues its usual voraciousness; it is no longer seen laboriously harrowing up the sand at the bottom, or fighting with others of its kind, or hunting its prey; it lies torpid and motionless, as if in anxious expectation of the approaching change. Just before casting its shell it throws itself upon its back, strikes its claws against each other, and every limb seems to tremble; its feelers are agitated, and the whole body is in violent motion; it then swells itself in an unusual manner, and at last the shell is seen beginning to divide at its junctures; particularly, it opens at the junctures of the belly, where, like a pair of jumps, it was before but seemingly united. It also seems turned inside out, and its stomach comes away with its shell. After this, by the same operation, it disengages itself of the claws, which burst at the joints the animal, with a tremulous motion, cast ing them off as a man would a miss-fitting boot.

Thus, in a short time this wonderful creature finds itself at liberty; but in so weak and enfeebled a state, that it continues for several hours motionless. Indeed, so violent and painful is the operation that many of them die under it; and those who survive are in such a weakly state for some time, that they neither take food nor venture from their retreats. Immediately after this change they have not only the softness but the timidity of a worm. Every animal of the deep is then a powerful enemy, which they can neither escape nor oppose; and this, in fact, is the time when the dog-fish, the cod, and the ray devour them by hundreds. But this state of defenceless imbecility continues for a very short time: the animal, in less than two days, is seen to have the skin that covered its body grown almost as hard as before; its appetite is seen to increase; and, strange to behold! the first object that tempts its gluttony is its own stomach, which it so lately was disengaged from. This it devours with great eagerness; and some time after eats even its former shell. In about forty-eight hours, in proportion to the animal's health and strength, the new shell is perfectly formed, and as hard as that which was but just thrown away.

To contribute to the speedy growth of the shell, it is supposed by some that the lobster is supplied with a very extraordinary concretion within its body, that is converted into the shelly substance. It is a chalky substance, found in the lower part of the stomach of all lobsters, improperly called crabs'-eyes, and sold under that title in the shops. About the time the lobster quits its shell the teeth in the stomach break these stones to pieces, and the fluids contained therein dissolve them. This fluid, which still remains in the new stomach, is thought to be replete with a petrifying quality, proper for forming a new shell: however, the concreting power that first formed these shows a sufficient power in the animal to produce also the shell; and it is going but a short way into the causes of things when we attempt to explain one wonder by another.

When the lobster is completely equipped in its new shell, it then appears how much it has grown in the space of a very few days: the dimensions of the old shell being compared with those of the new, it will be found that the creature is increased above a third in its size; and, like a boy that has outgrown his clothes, it seems wonderful how the deserted shell was able to contain so great an animal as entirely fills up the new.

The creature thus furnished, not only with a complete covering, but also with a greater share of strength and courage, ventures more boldly among the animals at the bottom; and not a week passes that in its combats it does not suffer some mutilation. A joint, or even a whole claw is sometimes snapped off in these encounters. At certain seasons of the year these animals never meet each other without an engagement. In these, to come off with the loss of a leg, or even a claw, is considered as no great calamity; the victor carries off the spoil to feast upon at leisure, while the other retires from the defeat to wait for a thorough repair. This repair it is not long in procuring. From the place where the joint of the claw was cut away is seen in a most surprising manner to bulge out the beginning of a new claw. This, if observed at first, is small and tender, but grows in the space of three weeks to be almost as large and as powerful as the old one. I say almost as large, for it never arrives to the full size; and this is the reason we gene. rally find the claws of lobsters of unequal magnitude.

After what has been thus described, let us pause a little to reflect on the wonders this extraordinary creature offers to our imagination. An animal without bones on the inside, yet furnished with a stomach capable of digesting the hardest substances, the shells of muscles, of oysters, and even its own-an animal gaining a new stomach and a new shell at stated intervals! furnished with the instruments of generation double in both sexes,

and yet with an apparent incapacity of uniting! without red blood circulating through the body, and yet apparently vigorous and active! But most strange of all, an animal endowed with a vital principle that furnishes out such limbs as have been cut away, and keeps continually combating it, though in constant repair to renew its engagements! These are but a small part of the wonders of the deep where Nature sports without a spectator!

Of this extraordinary yet well-known animal there are many varieties, with some differences in the claws, but little in the habits or conformation. It is found above three feet long; and if we may admit the shrimp and the prawn into the class, though unfurnished with claws, it is seen not above an inch. These all live in the water, and can bear its absence for but a few hours. The shell is black when taken out of the water, but turns red by boiling. The most common way of taking the lobster is in a basket or pot, as the fishermen call it, made of wicker-work, in which they put the bait, and then throw it to the bottom of the sea in six or ten fathoms water. The lobsters creep into this for the sake of the bait, but are not able to get out again. The river craw-fish differs little from the lobster, but that the one will live only in fresh water, and the other will thrive only in the sea.

The crab is an animal found equally in fresh and salt water, as well upon land as in the ocean. In shape it differs very much from the lobster, but entirely resembles it in habits and conformation. The tail in this animal is not so apparent as in the former, being that broad flap that seems to cover a part of the belly, and when lifted discovers the peas or spawn situated there in great abundance. It resembles the lobster in the number of its claws, which are two; and its legs, which are eight, four on either side. Like the lobster, it is a bold voracious animal; and such an enimity do crabs bear each other that those who carry them for sale to market often tie their claws with strings to prevent their fight ing and maiming themselves by the way. In short, it resem les the lobster in everything but the amazing bulk of its body compared to the size of its head and the length of its intestines, which have many convolutions.

As the crab, however, is found upon laud as well as in water, the peculiarity of its situation produces a difference in its habitudes which it is proper to describe. The land-crab is found in some of the warmer regions of Europe, and in great abundance in all the tropical climates in Africa and America. They are of various kinds and endued with various properties, some being healthful, delicious, and nourishing food; others poisonous or malignant to the last degree; some are not above half an inch broad, others are found a foot over; some are of a dirty brown, and others beautifully mottled. That animal called the violet crab of the Carribbee Islands is the most noted both for its shape, the delicacy of its flesh, and the singularity of its

manners.

The violet crab somewhat resembles two hands cut through the middle and joined together; for each side looks like four fingers, and the two nippers or claws resemble the thumbs. All the rest of the body is covered with a shell as large as a man's hand, and bunched in the middle, on the fore-part of which there are two long eyes of the size of a grain of barley, as transparent as crystal and as hard as horn. A little below these is the mouth, covered with a sort of barbs, under which there are two broad sharp teeth as white as snow. They are not placed, as in other animals, crossways, but in the opposite direction. not much unlike the blades of a pair of scissors. With these teeth they can easily cut leaves, fruits, and rotten wood, which is their usual food. But their principal instruments for cutting and seizing their food is their nippers, which catch such a hold, that the animal loses the limb sooner

than its grasp, and is often seen scampering off, having left its claw still holding fast upon the enemy. The faithful claw seems to perform its duty, and keeps for above a minute fastened upon the finger while the crab is making off. In fact, it loses no great matter by leav ing a leg or an arm, for they soon grow again, and the animal is found as perfect as before.

This, however, is the least surprising part of this creature's history; and what I am going to relate, were it not as well known and as confidently confirmed as any other circumstance in natural history, it might well stagger our belief. These animals live not only in a kind of orderly society in their retreats in the mountains, but regularly once a year march down to the sea-side in a body of some millions at a time. As they multiply in great numbers, they choose the months of April or May to begin their expedition; and then sally out by thou sands from the stumps of hollow trees, from the clefts of rocks, and from the holes which they dig for themselves under the surface of the earth. At that time the whole ground is covered with this band of adventurers; there is no setting down one's foot without treading upon them. The sea is their place of destination, and to that they direct their march with right-lined precision. No geometrician could send them to their destined station by a shorter course; they neither turn to the right nor left, whatever obstacles intervene; and even if they meet with a house, they will attempt to scale the walls to keep the unbroken tenor of their way. But though this be the general order of their route, they upon other occa sions are compelled to conform to the face of the country; and if it be intersected by rivers, they are then seen to wind along the course of the stream. The procession sets forward from the mountains with the regularity of an army, under the guidance of an experienced commander. They are commonly divided into three battalions; of which the first consists of the strongest and boldest males, that, like pioneers, march forward to clear the route and face the greatest dangers. These are obliged to halt for want of rain, and go into the most convenient encampment till the weather changes. The main body of the army is composed of females, which never leave the mountains till the rain is set in for some time, and then descend in regular battalia, being formed into columns of fifty paces broad and three miles deep, and so close that they almost cover the ground. Three or four days after this the rear-guard follows-a stragling, undisciplined tribe, consisting of males and females, but neither so robust nor so numerous as the former. The night is their chief time of proceeding; but if it rains by day they do not fail to profit by the occasion: and they continue to move forward in their slow uniform manner. When the sun shines and is hot upon the surface of the ground, they then make an universal halt, and wait till the cool of the evening. When they are terrified they march back in a confused, disorderly manner, holding up their nippers, with which they sometimes tear off a piece of the skin, and then leave the weapon where they inflicted the wound. They even try to intimidate their enemies; for they often clatter their nippers together, as if it were to threaten those that come to disturb them. But though they thus strive to be formidable to man, they are much more so to each other; they are possessed of one most unsocial property, which is, that if any of them by accident is maimed in such a manner as to be incapable of proceeding, the rest fall upon and devour it on the spot, and then pursue their journey.

When after a fatiguing march and escaping a thousand dangers (for they are sometimes three months in getting to the shore) they have arrived at their destined port, they prepare to cast their spawn. The peas are as yet within their bodies, and not excluded, as is usual in animals of this kind, under the tail; for the creature waits for the benefit of the sea-water to help the delivery. For

this purpose, the crab has no sooner reached the shore, than it eagerly goes to the edge of the water, and lets the waves wash over its body two or three times. This seems only a preparation for bringing the spawn to maturity; for without further delay they withdraw to seek a lodging upon land: in the meantime, the spawn grows larger, is excluded out of the body, and sticks to the barbs under the flap, or more properly the tail. This bunch is seen as big as a hen's egg, and exactly resembling the roes of herrings. In this state of pregnancy, they once more seek the shore for the last time, and, shaking off their spawn into the water, leave accident to bring it to maturity At this time whole shoals of hungry fish are at the shore in expectation of this annual supply; the sea to a great distance seems black with them; and about two thirds of the crabs' eggs are immediately devoured by these rapacious invaders. The eggs that escape are hatched under the sand; and soon after millions at a time of these little crabs are seen quitting the shore, and slowly travelling up to the mountains.

The old ones, however, are not so active to return; they have become so feeble and lean, that they can hardly creep along, and the flesh at that time changes its colour. The most of them, therefore, are obliged to continue in the flat parts of the country till they recover, making holes in the earth, which they cover at the mouth with leaves and dirt, so that no air may enter. There they throw off their old shells, which they leave as it were quite whole, the place where they opened on the belly being unseen. At that time they are quite naked, and almost without motion for fix days together, when they become so fat as to be delicious food. They have then under their stomachs four large white stones, which gradually decrease in proportion as the shell hardens, and when they come to perfection are not to be found. It is at that time that the animal is seen slowly making its way back; and all this is most commonly performed in the space of six weeks.

This animal when possessed of its retreats in the mountains is impregnable; for only subsisting upon vegetables, it seldom ventures out; and its habitation being in the most inaccessible places, it remains for a great part of the season in perfect security. It is only when impelled by the desire of bringing forth its young, and when compelled to descend into the flat country, that it is taken. At that time the natives wait for its descent in eager expectation, and destroy thousands; but disregarding the bodies, they only seek for that small spawn which lies on each side of the stomach within the shell, of about the thickness of a man's thumb. They are much more valuable upon their return after they have cast their shell; for being covered with a skin resembling soft parchment, almost every part except the stomach may be eaten. They are taken in their holes by feeling for them in the ground with an instrument: they are sought after by night, when on their journey, with flambeaux. The instant the animal perceives itself attacked, it throws itself on its back, and with its claws pinches most terribly whatever it happens to fasten on. But the dextrous crab-catcher takes them by the hinder legs in such a manner that its nippers cannot touch him, and thus he throws it into his bag. Sometimes also they are caught when they take refuge at the bottom of holes, in rocks by the sea side, by clapping a stick at the mouth of the hole, which prevents their getting out; and then soon after the tide coming, enters the hole, and the animal is found upon its retiring drowned in its retreat. These crabs are of considerable advantage to the natives; and the slaves very often feed entirely upon them. In Jamaica, where they are found in great plenty, they are considered as one of the greatest delicacies of the place. Yet still, the eating of them is attended with some danger; for even of this kind many are found poisonous, being fed, as it is thought, upon the machine apple; and whenever they are found under that noxious

plant they are always rejected with caution. It is thus with almost all the productions of those luxurious climates; however tempting they may be to the appetite, they but too often are found destructive; and scarce a delicacy among them that does not carry its own alloy. The descent of these creatures for such important purposes deserves our admiration; but there is an animal of the lobster kind that annually descends from its mountains in like manner, and for purposes still more important and various. Its descent is not only to produce an offspring but to provide itself a covering-not only to secure a family, but to furnish a house. The animal I mean is the soldier-crab, which has some similitude to the lobster if divested of its shell. It is usually about four inches long, has no shell behind. but is covered down to the tail with a rough skin terminating in a point. It is, however, armed with strong hard nippers before, like the lobster; and one of them is as thick as a man's thumb, and pinches most powerfully. It is, as I said, without a shell to any part except its nippers; but what Nature has denied this animal it takes care to supply by art; and taking possession of the deserted shell of some other animal, resides in it, till, by growing too large for its habitation, it is under a necessity of change. It is a native of the West India Islands; and, like the former, it is seen every year descending from the mountains to the seashore, to deposit its spawn, and to provide itself with a new shell. This is a most bustling time with it, having so many things to do; and, in fact, very busy it appears. It is very probable that its first care is to provide for its offspring before it attends to its own wants; and it is thought, from the number of little shells which it is seen examining, that it deposits its spawn in them, which thus is placed in perfect security till the time of exclusion.

However this be, the "soldier" is in the end by no means unmindful of itself. It is still seen in its old shell, which it appears to have considerably outgrown ; for a part of the naked body is seen at the mouth of it which the habitation is too small to hide. A shell, therefore, is to be found large enough to cover the whole body; and yet not so large as to be unmanageable and unwieldy. To answer both these ends it is no easy matter, nor the attainment of a slight inquiry. The little soldier is seen busily parading the shore along that line of pebbles and shells that is formed by the extremest wave-still, however, dragging its old incommodious habitation at its tail, unwilling to part with one shell, even though a troublesome appendage, till it can find another more convenient. It is seen stopping at one shell, turning it and passing it by, going on to another, contemplating that for a while, and then slipping its tail from its old habitation to try on the new. This also is found to be inconvenient; and it quickly returns to its old shell again. In this manner it frequently changes, till at last it finds one light, roomy, and commodious; to this it adheres, though the shell be sometimes so large as to hide the body of the animal, claws and all.

But it is not till after many trials, but many combats also, that the soldier is thus completely equipped; for there is often a contest between two of them for some well-looking favourite shell for which they are rivals. They both endeavour to take possession; they strike with their claws; they bite each other till the weakest is obliged to yield by giving up the object of dispute. It is then that the victor immediately takes possession, and parades it in his new conquest three or four times back and forward upon the strand before his envious antagonist.

When this animal is taken, it sends forth a feeble cry, endeavouring to seize the enemy with its nippers; which if it fastens upon it will sooner die than quit the grasp. The wound is very painful and not easily cured.

For this reason, and as it is not much esteemed for its flesh, it is generally permitted to return to its old retreat to the mountains in safety. There it continues till the necessity of changing once more, and the desire of producing an offspring, expose it to fresh dangers the year ensuing.

CHAP. III.

OF THE TORTOISE AND ITS KINDS.

Having described the lobster and the crab as animals in some measure approaching the insect tribes, it will appear like injustice to place the tortoise among the number, that, from its strength, its docility, the warm red blood that is circulating in its veins, deserves to be ranked even above the fishes: but as this animal is covered like the lobster with a shell-as it is of an amphibious nature, and brings forth its young from the egg without hatching we must be content to degrade it among animals that in every respect it infinitely surpasses.

Tortoises are usually divided into those that live upon land, and those that subsist in the water; and use has made a distinction even in the name-the one being called tortoises, the other turtles. However, Seba has proved that all tortoises are amphibious; that the landtortoise will live in the water, and that the sea-turtle can be fed upon land. A landt-ortoise was brought to him that was caught in one of the canals of Amsterdam, which he kept for half a year in his house, where it lived very well contented in both elements. When in the water it remained with its head above the surface; when placed in the sun, it seemed delighted with its beams, and continued immoveable while it felt their warmth. The difference, therefore, in these animals, arises rather from their habits than their conformation; and, upon examination, there will be less variety found between them than between birds that live upon land and those that swim upon the water.

Yet, though Nature seems to have made but few distinctions among these animals as to their conformation, in their habits they are very dissimilar; as these result from the different qualities of their food, and the different sorts of enemies they have to avoid or encounter. I will therefore exhibit their figure and conformation under one common description, by which their slight differences will be more obvious; and then I will give a separate history of the manners of each, as naturalists and travellers have taught us.

All tortoises in their external form pretty much resemble each other, their outward covering being composed of two great shells, the one laid upon the other, and only touching at the edges: however, when we come to look closer, we shall find that the upper shell is composed of no less han thirteen pieces, which are laid flat upon the ribs, like the tiles of a house, by which the shell is kept arched and supported. The shells both above and below, that, to an inattentive observer seem to make each but one piece, are bound together at the edges by very strong and hard ligaments, yet with some small share of motion. There are two holes at either end of this vaulted body-one for a very small head, shoulders, and arms to peep through; the other, at the opposite edge, for the feet and the tail. These shells the animal is never disengaged from, and they serve for its defence against every creature but man.

The tortoise has but a small head, with no teeth; having only two bony ridges in the place, serrated and hard. These serve to gather and grind its food; and such is the amazing strength of the jaws, that it is impossible to open them where they have once fastened. Even when the head is cut off, the jaw sstill keep their

hold, and the muscles, in death, preserve a tenacious rigidity. Indeed, the animal is possessed of equal strength in all other parts of the body—the legs, though short, are inconceivably strong; and, torpid as the tortoise may appear, it has been known to carry five men standing upon its back, with apparent ease and unconcern. Its manner of going forward is by moving its legs one after the other, and the claws with which the toes are furnished sink into the ground like the nails of an iron-shod wheel, and assist its progression.

With respect to its internal parts, not to enter into minute anatomical disquisitions, it may not be improper to observe, that the blood circulates in this animal as in some cartilaginous fishes, and something in the manner of a child in the womb. The greatest quantity of the blood passes directly from the vena cava into the left ventricle of the heart, which communicates with the right ventricle by an opening; while the auricles only receive what the ventricles seem incapable of admitting. Thus the blood is driven by a very short passage through the circulation, and the lungs seem to lend only occasional assistance. From this conformation the animal can subsist for some time without using the lungs or breathing; at least, the lungs are not so necessary an instrument for driving on the circulation as with us.

Such is the general structure of this animal, whether found to live by land or water. With regard to the differences of these animals, the land-tortoise, from its habits of making use of its feet in walking, is much more nimble upon land than the sea-turtle: the land-tortoise, if thrown upon its back, by rocking and balancing its body, like a child rocking in a cradle, at last turns itself upon its face again; but the turtle, when once turned, continues without being able to move from the spot. In comparing the feet, also, of these animals, the nails upon the toes of one that has been long used to scratch for subsistence upon land are blunt and worn; while those that have only been employed in swimming are sharp and long, and have more the similitude of fins. The brain of the land tortoise is but small; and yet it is three times as large as that of the turtle. There is a difference, also, in the shape of their eggs, and in the passage by which they are excluded; for in the landtortoise the passage is so narrow that the egg conforms to the shape of the aperture, and, though round when in the body, yet becomes much more oblong than those of fowls upon being excluded; otherwise they would never be able to pass through the bony canal by which they are protruded: on the contrary, the passage is wider in the turtle, and therefore its eggs are round. These are the most striking distinctions; but that which is most known is their size the land-tortoise often not exceeding three feet long by two feet broad, the seaturtle being sometimes from five to seven feet long. The size, however, is but a fallacious distinction; since land-tortoises in some parts of India grow to a very great magnitude, though probably not, as the ancients affirm, big enough for a single shell to serve for the covering of a house.

But if the different kinds of tortoises are not sufficiently distinguished by their figure, they are very obviously distinguishable by their methods of living. The land-tortoise lives in holes dug in the mountains, or near marshy lakes; the sea-turtles in cavities of rocks, and extensive pastures at the bottom of the sea. The tortoise makes use of its feet to walk with and burrow in the ground; the turtle chiefly uses its feet in swimming or creeping at the bottom,

The land-tortoise is generally found, as was observed above, from one foot to five feet long from the end of the snout to the end of the tail, and from five inches to a foot and a half across the back. It has a small head, somewhat resembling that of a serpent, an eye without the upper lid, the under eye-lid serving to cover and keep that organ in safety. It has a strong scaly tail,