The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-01-20
READING FOR THE YOUNG,
BOXED UP.
Something About q Very Curious Littl
Animal and Its HabitatiOn.

0VA0cVNluS hUOuI very CURIOUS AltGle
Animal and Its Habitation.
If any of my readers have ever seen
the boys of the Country Week" re-
turning from their weeks run and roll
in the green fields, they will have seen
an amusing sight These poor little
waits, born in the slums of the city,
and most of whom have never seen the
verdant meadows or heard the CUR
Cling brooks, come back not only full
of delightful memories, but most of
them bringing some prize from the
treasure-box of the country paradise.
And the most valued of all prizes seems
to be land turtle. Every little urchin
who has been lucky enough to secure
one of these queer creatures clings to it
as proudly as if it was one of King
Solomon's jewels, while his less fort
innate companions gather around him
with curious and envious eyes.
Boys like turtles; that may be set
down as an axiom. Whether turtles
like boys is another question. A turtle
is not much of thinker. Give him
something to eat, and let him alone
and he will get along almost any
where. And if disturbed too much he
can shut himself up in his shell likeya
''jack-in-a-box" and laugh at his tor
mentors.
And, by the way, as most people
know the turtle mainly by the outside,
and as young and old folks generally
are interested in this comical creature,
some short account of what there is in
side the turtles box may not be with
out interest.
The turtle-or the tortoise, to give
the little crawler its proper name-is
not the only "animal in box. Oys-
tiers, clans, crabs and many other
creatures are boxed-up animals But
they all differ greatly from the tortoise,
which is, in fact, very distant cousin
of ourselves; that is to say, it has
backbone and ribs, as we have. The
lower orders of animals have no inside
bones; all their hard parts are outside
their bodies. 1t is the popularity of the
vertebrate Cor backbone) animals to
have their hard parts inside, while their
outside is of soft flesh, or is covered
with scales, as in the fishes and rep
tiles.
But the turtle is peculiar in that it
has bones both inside and outside. In
this peculiar animal the bones come
through the flesh, and spread over the
body outside. The turtles she'll is
made up of it's backbone and ribs,
which are spread out broad and fiat
over its back, the ribs joining at their
edges. This tent of bone IS covered
with thin, almost transparent, beau
tiful]y tinted coating, which is the tor
toise she'll from which such pretty
combs, knife-handles, and like orna-
mental objects are made.
The lower she'll is made in the same
manner. Here the breast-bones comes
out, and spreads into broad, flat shell.
Thus the tortoise is actually shut up
in box made of its own bones. This
is usually joined together above and
below, except where the head, tail and
legs come out. And these can be with
drawn at will, and the shell closed by
strong muscles, until the creature be-
comes like an old-time knight shut up
in his iron box of armor.
The head is also covered with a coat
ing of horny plates, and the edges of
these plates at the jaws do duty as
teeth, since the tortoise has none of
these useful organs These horny jaws
are often saw-toothed, so that they cut
up food very well.
Our little land tortoise Cistudo Caro-
lsna, to give it its scientific name
is by no means confined to Carolina,
but may be found everywhere along
the Atlantic coast from Maine to Flori-
da. It is very abundant in the pine
forests of the South, and is familiar to
almost everybody everywhere through
out the region named.
The shell of the box tortoise is about
six and half inches long by four and
a half wide. 1t is more rounded than
is usual with turtles, and has remark
able variety of colors and markings.
Its most common colors are yellowish-
brown and bright yellow, but these are
so variously arranged that it is nearly
or quite impossible to find two tortoises
alike.
In its wild state it feeds on insects,
and probably on some species of plants;
but when confined it very quickly makes
itself at home, and will eat nearly
everything offered it, such as bread,
potatoes, apples, and other civilized
fare.
One thing remarkable about it is its
wonderful length of life. We are not
surprised to hear that the huge ele-
plant can live for two hundred years;
there is stuff enough in the great beast
to keep it going for centuries. Yet it
is hard to conceive that little crawl
ing tortoise can live as long as an ele-
plant, though writers declare that it
can. I doubt, however, if any single
observer has watched tortoise for two
There is one way of telling turtles
age, and that is by cuttinga date on
its shell. The inscription will remain
during its whole life. But as it is not
uncommon for roguish boys to date
such inscriptions twenty years or more
back, they are not fully to be trusted.
Yet all boys are not rogues, and we
can relate one remarkable and we'll
instance of this character. Mr..
William Eyre, gentleman of Chester,
Pa, relates that when he was a boy of |
ten he caught land tortoise and cut
his initials on its under shell. Going
out afterward for ride, he took the
tortoise with him, and left it at place
ten miles away. That was the last he