( 360 ) 



tlmt this was the species, or one of the species, which formerly inhabited the Island 

 of Bourbon or Rf^nnion. This I always donbted, as the species had nothing in 

 common with the other six or seven extinct Mascarene tortoises, whili' it had great 

 affinity to the four races of Aldabrn. At the time of the publication of Dr. Giinther's 

 monograph, a very large number of references to the Giant Tortoises by various 

 ancient voyagers had been overlooked or not made jinblic, and also the discovery 

 of tortoise eggs in a semi-fossilised state had not been made on an ontlying island of 

 the Seychelles. Now, however, we know that in additit>n to the imported Aldabra 

 tortoises the Seychelles were originally inhabited by a special race or races of giant 

 land tortoises. The Testudo stimeirei, as we have seen, were taken from the Seychelles 

 to Manritins as curiosities ; up to IsoO Aldabra was overrun witli thousands of 

 tortoises, so that the Aldabra races were well known: what would bo more likely, 

 on the other hand, that the last, or nearly the last, indigenous Seychelles tortoises 

 shonld have been carefully preserved and taken to Mauritius as wonders ? I 

 therefore think there is little doubt that I't'sludo sumeini was the original 

 Se3-clielles tortoise, and of these three only are left alive— two in Mauritius, and 

 one in London. 



