Mr. White remarks that his Tortoise did not bury itself into the ground before November 1st, but ours are cold and torpid, and quite ready to hybernate by the first week in October. Probably the different latitude and longitude of Selborne and Norwich may account for this difference of time. In this cellar cupboard, the Tortoises remain until the end of April, when, though still dull and stupid, the weather is getting sufficiently warm for them to enjoy the sun for a portion of the day. But the frosts and cold of this period of the year are still dangerous. And a relative of mine lost both of his old friends (who for years had taken care of themselves in the winter in his garden) during the cold weather of this spring, after they had duly survived the far greater cold of the winter in the ground places in which they had buried themselves. From October to April—fully seven months—they rest from their labours of eating, of breathing, shall I say, of thinking? (or nearly so, for they occasionally stir a little, and are found to have moved a little from under their straw). But they neither eat nor drink, nor see light, nor (I believe) open their eyes. And when touched during this time they feel of a stony coldness, and certainly appear to have none of their faculties in operation. But with the warmer weather, they again gradually resume the precise habits of the preceding year. Gradually, their bright little eyes resume their intelligence; their memory re-awakens; and they return to the ways, and the habits, and the places of the preceding season, as if their sleep of seven months were but a single night, and last summer verily but as yesterday. They are in many respects both curious and remarkable animals. We find them to have enough of intelligence, enough of quaintness, and apparently enough of affection, to give them considerable interest in the eyes of their owners, and to raise them out of the level of despised reptiles. Whilst their remarkable construction, and mysterious power of hybernation, render them specially worthy of study and contemplation. These specialities and peculiarities must be my much-needed excuse for having troubled you so long with these few details of their personally observed habits and ways. IV. A FURTHER NOTE UPON TORTOISES. {38} In the year 1886 I read before this Society a paper in which I recorded some of the observed habits and peculiarities of a pair of Tortoises which I had then kept in my garden for three and four years respectively. This paper was afterwards published in our Society’s “Transactions” (Vol. iv. p. 316), and will probably be remembered by some of our members. I would like this evening to say a few further words upon these creatures, which are still living and in my possession—more particularly with reference to their _rate of growth and increase_.