OBSERVATIONS ON TESTUDO NIGRITA — WAITE. 



99 



The Female Tortoise. 



As I learn from Dr. Sinclair, the female was brought to 

 Sydney in 1853 by the American Whaler " Winslow." It was 

 then but a baby and weighed 56 Rs.* No further observations 

 appear to have been made until 1884, when the following figures 

 were published by Dr, Cox {loc. cit.) : — 



Length, nose to tail ("no tail ") ' 



„ shell 



,, across shell 



,, under shell 



Girth 



Front leg, round elbow ... 

 Head, round 



In 1893 its weight was ascertained to be 368 Bis. About this date 

 it was placed in a paddock with the male, and in September, 1895, it 

 was found to have deposited six eggs in a rubbish heap. These eggs 

 were at once forwarded to the Museum, when I took the dimensions 

 below recorded. The following measurements of the female were 

 made by me in April, 1896. In August of the same year 

 this tortoise died, and as already stated, was forwarded to the 

 Museum. The, ovaries were in an enlarged condition, and it 

 seems probable that had she lived, the tortoise would have again 

 produced eggs. 



Weight, 320| 5)8. 



The depression in the plastron, although much less than in the 

 male, is yet very noticeable ; a feature scarcely realised by Dr. 

 Giinther when writing his Monograph,! for he regarded the type 



* See also — The Curator's Annual Eeport for 1897 : Report of the 

 Trustees for 1897, p. 6. 



t Giinther — Gigantic Land Tortoises in the British Museum, 1877, 

 p. 71. 



