42 TORTOISKb IN THE 



where else but in this isolated spot , and the only rem- 

 nants ^of it which , according to Günther , are preserved for 

 posterity are two carapaces in the Paris Museum (from which 

 Dumeril & Bibron took their description after having iden- 

 tified them with Schoepff's figure) and five partially muti- 

 lated carapaces , together with numerous parts of the en- 

 doskeleton of a great number of individuals, now forming 

 part of the collections in the British Museum , which have 

 been collected by the naturalist of the Expedition for the 

 observation of the Transit of Venus, stationed in 1876 on 

 Rodriguez. 



Giinther incidentally mentions Schoepff's specimen which 

 in the former century formed part of the collections of the 

 Prince of Orange , stadtholder of the United Republic , 

 which at that time were under the care of A. Vosmaer 

 who gave a description of the specimen to Schoepo", adding 

 that it had come from the Cape of good Hope. Giinther rightly 

 concludes that this specimen must have reached Europe at 

 the time when the species was not yet extinct but does 

 not mention where this type specimen may be looked for, 

 apparently not being aware of the fact that Schlegel iu 

 the „Reptiles" of the » Fauna Japonica" (p. 74) draws at- 

 tention to the very specimen , which together with nume- 

 rous other objects had passed from the stadtholders' col- 

 lections into those of the Leyden Museum. 



There can be no doubt that this specimen is really the 

 one from which Vosmaer's description and Schoepff's figure 

 were taken. Not only do the measures correspond (length 

 of the carapace in straight line 81 cm.; the same over the 

 curve 93 cm. ; width of the same over curve 88^2 cm. ; 

 length of the sternum 58 cm.) ; but the figure is a direct 

 copy from the original , as is still more conclusively shown 

 by the particular circumstance of the remnants of the sacral 

 vertebrae, which were not entirely removed when the cara- 

 pace was first prepared , being exactly reproduced in Schoepff's 

 figure, such as they are there now. 



The carapace is larger than either the Paris or the Lou- 



ISTotes from the Leyden IMuNeum, Vol. 111. 



