j/ 



CIIELONIA 



of its shell was 55 inches, or 67^ inches over the curve ; total 

 weight 560 lbs. This specimen had a chequered career. 

 Although its original home must have been the Aldabra atoll, 

 it had been known for many years on Egmont Island, one of the 

 Chagos Islands. According to tradition, it had been there 

 some 150 years, but the first settlement on that island was 



Fig. 83. — Trsiiidn daiuUnl (above) and T. ahingthmi (below). x -jV 



formed from Mauritius only at the beginning of tliis centur}-. 

 Tlie owner of the tortoise, M. Antelme, took it to Mauritius, 

 whence it came to England. On the Egmont Island it used 

 to liury itself fur six months in the ground without eating 

 anything. 



T. sinncirei. — This kind is supposed to have l)een the species 

 peculiar to the Seychelles. In 17()G five large tortoises were 

 l)rought from the Seyclielles to Mauritius by Chevalier ]\Iarion 

 de Tresne. Of these only three were alive in 1898, two in 



