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IV. On the Extinct Land- Tortoises of Mauritius and Rodriguez. By Alfred C. 



Haddon, B.A., Scholar of Christ's College, and Curator in the Museum of 



Zoology and Comparative Anatomy of the University of Cambridge. (Communicated 

 by Prof. Newton, M.A., F.R.S.) 



(Plate XIII.) 



Read November 20th, 1879. 



JllAVING been recently engaged in determining and cataloguing the large series of 

 bones of the extinct Land-Tortoises of the Mascarene Islands contained in the Museum 

 of the University, it has appeared to me that some notes made during that undertaking 

 might, if published, be of interest to zoologists in general and herpetologists in 

 particular ; for though a portion of the series was submitted to Dr. Gunther when 

 preparing his admirable monograph*, yet a very considerable portion, in some instances 

 containing more perfect specimens, has been received since the publication of that 

 work, and has therefore never been described, while the whole forms the largest assem- 

 blage of these rare remains that has yet been collected. 



All the specimens in this series were presented to the University by Mr. Edward 

 Newton, M.A., C.M.G., formerly Colonial Secretary of Mauritius, and now Lieutenant- 

 Governor of Jamaica. Those from Mauritius were obtained, with one or two exceptions, 

 from the mud and peat of the Mare aux Songes, where they were found, together with 

 numerous remains of the Dodo and other extinct members of the fauna of that island, 

 under circumstances which have been described by the late Mr. George Clark f . The 

 portion of the series received in 18G7 was examined by Dr. Gunther, and several of its 

 specimens have been described and figured by him in his work above mentioned ; but 

 the larger portion did not reach the Museum till the summer of the present year, 1879. 

 The bones from Rodriguez were received in like manner at two different times ; but they 

 were all obtained from the caves of that island, the first portion having been collected by 

 Sergeant Morris, who was working under the direction of Mr. George Jenner, during the 

 excavations and explorations made at the expense of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science between 1866 and 1871, inclusive $, and the second portion 

 having been obtained similarly by Mr. James Caldwell on his visit to the island in 

 1875 §. This last collection was received at our Museum during the past summer and, 

 like the Mauritian series, which arrived at the same time, has not had the advantage of 

 Dr. Giinther's inspection. 



* ' The Gigantic Land-Tortoisos (Living and Extinct) in the Collection of the British Museum.' By Albert 

 C. L. G. Giinther, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., F.R.S. London, 1S77. 



t l: Account of the late Discovery of Dodos' Romains in the Island of Mauritius. " By George Clark. The Ibis, 

 1866, pp. 141-140. 



t Report of the British Association, 1865, p. xli ; 1866, pp. 401, 402 ; 1867, pp. 287, 288 ; 1872, pp. 23, 24. 



§ " Notes on the Zoology of Rodriguez." By J. Caldwell, C.M.Z.S. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1875, pp. 644-647. 

 SECOND SERIES. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. II. 21 



