tion as to baffle any attempt of
the animal itself to remove them; but as they are exposed to constant
danger of being crushed against the plastron during the protrusion and
retraction of the head, each is covered with a horny case almost as
resistant as the carapace of the tortoise itself. Such an adaptation of
structure is scarcely less striking than that of the parasites found on
the spotted lizard of Berar by Dr. Hooker, each of which presents the
distinct colour of the scale to which it adheres.[2]

[Footnote 1: Testudo stellata.]

[Illustration: THE THREE-RIDGED TORTOISE (EMYS TRIJUGA)]

[Footnote 2: HOOKER'S _Himalayan Journals_, vol. i. p. 37.]

The marshes and pools of the interior are frequented by _terrapins_[1],
which the natives are in the habit of keeping alive in wells under the
conviction that they clear them of impurities. These fresh-water
tortoises, the greater number of which are included in the genus _Emys_
of naturalists, are distinguished by having their toes webbed. Their
shell is less convex than that of their congeners on land (but more
elevated than that of the sea-turtle); and it has been observed that the
more rounded the shell, the nearer does the terrapin approach to the
land-tortoise both in its habits and in the choice of its food. Some of
them live upon animal as well as vegetable food, and those which subsist
exclusively on the former, are noted as having the flattest shells.

[Footnote 1: _Cryptopus granum_, SCHOePF; DR. KELAART, in his _Prodromus_
(p. 179), refers this to the common Indian species, _C. punctata_; but
it is distinct. It is generally distributed in the lower parts of
Ceylon, in lakes and tanks. It is the one usually put into wells to act
the part of a scavenger. By the Singhalese it is named _Kiri-ibba_.]

The terrapins lay about thirty eggs in the course of several weeks, and
these are round, with a calcareous shell. They thrive in captivity,
provided that they have a regular supply of water and of meat, cut into
small pieces and thrown to them. The tropical species, if transferred to
a colder climate, should have arrangements made for enabling them to
hybernate during the winter: they will die in a very short time if
exposed to a temperature below the freezing point.[1]

[Footnote 1: Of the _Emys trijuga_, the fresh water tortoise figured on
preceding page, the technical characteristics are;--vertical plates
lozenge-shaped; shell convex and oval; with three mor