Collier's New Encyclopedia

A complete general encyclopedia of 1921 — the world as it was understood just after the Great War, from Aachen to Zwingli, across twelve volumes and six thousand pages.

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Testudinide (Land tortoises a family) (II)

the land tortoises; a family of Chelonia, Chelonia, very widely distributed in both hemispheres, but absent from Australia. The carapace is very convex; claws blunt; feet clubshaped, adapted for progression on land only; neck retractile. They are vegetable feeders, and the greater part of the species belong to the type genus Testudo. In some classifications the family includes the freshwater tortoises, now generally made a separate family of Emydidœ. The family appears in the Miocene of Europe and the Eocene of North America.

TESTUDO

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