ABSTRACT
When you write to Linn., next, pray talk to him about tortoises. There are tortoises whose shells are always open behind and before ‘apertura testae anterior,’ as he says himself, ‘pro capite et brachiis; posterior pro cauda et femoribus.’ These apertures are supported, as it were, by pillars on each side and can never be closed. Of such construction is the shell of Mrs. Snooke’s present living tortoise, Timothy. But then there are tortoises whose under shell has a cardo, an hinge, about the middle of their bellies, commanding one lid or flap forward, and one lid backward (like the double-lidded snuff-boxes) which when shut conceal the head and legs and tail of the reptile entirely, and keep out all annoyances. Two such (very small they were) Mrs. Snooke had formerly; and the shells still lie in her room over the hall.
