And Yertle the Turtle, the king of the trees, The king of the air and the birds and the bees, The king of a house and a cow and a mule . . . . Well, that was the end of the Turtle King's rule! For Yertle, the King of all Sala-ma-Sond, Fell off his high throne and fell Plunk! in the pond! -- Yertle the Turtle, by Dr. Seuss.
. . .
We note with sadness the passing -- in the mortal, rather than the legislative, sense -- of a measure to elevate the Eastern Box Turtle to the pantheon of official emblems of the state of Virginia.
What objection there could be to the turtle is hard to say. A stout fellow who gives no offense and retreats within his shell when threatened, the turtle presents one of the more pleasing aspects of the reptile world. And he offers more delight to the eye than Corynorhinus townsendii virginianus, the Virginia big-eared bat -- which was named the official bat of the commonwealth in 2005.
Nor can there be objection on the grounds of opening the doors to an exclusive club. Virginia has an official just-about-everything, from an official folk dance (the square dance) to an official motor sports museum (the Wood Brothers Racing Museum and Virginia Motor Sports Hall of Fame in Patrick County -- which also happens to be the official covered-bridge capital of the commonwealth).
Rumor in the air informs us that some lawmakers might have objected, as some have in the past, to the Latin name for the Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina. Interstate rivalry is a great source of unrest. But if that is the case, then perhaps the Assembly should revisit the wisdom of designating as the official state tree of Virginia the flowering dogwood. Its Latin name is Cornus florida.
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