Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/21

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The technical characters of this genus are that the fore-feet are furnished with five toes each, the hind with four; the carapace is composed of a single piece; the anterior part of the plastron is not moveable. Above twenty species are described, principally inhabiting the tropical regions; many of these attain a gigantic size, to which our little European species present no approach.

One of the most interesting of these giant

is that described by Mr. Darwin as inhabiting the Galapagos Islands. It is probably the