An article on page C 12 of today's Washington Post reports an amazing event: a tortoise thought to be about 250 years old has died at the zoo in India where it had lived for the past 130 years. What's the bulb connection? The tortoise was originally owned by eighteenth century British military officer Robert Clive. When I read that, my first thought was: is that the Clive for whom the genus Clivia was named? But no, the genus was named for another member of the Clive family, the then Duchess of Northumberland. I wonder if she ever saw the tortoise? It's as if Gilbert White's Timothy had survived into our times. Jim McKenney Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the local "tortoises" are still snoozing.