A FOSSIL TORTOISE 



toises, like the smaller ones, can crane their necks to 

 the extent of a good many inches. This particular 

 beast forms an excellent instance of the longevity of 

 cold-blooded tortoises. At first sight there seems to 

 be no particular reason why they should not be posi- 

 tively immortal. They can reduce breathing, feeding, 

 and the other necessities of life to their lowest terms, 

 and thus exist torpidly for months together. Why 

 should they not husband out life's taper indefinitely ? 

 It was asserted to be at any rate 150 years old, and 

 observations have been made upon other species and 

 specimens, tending to prove the fact that they can 

 survive for many years. The word Galapagos is good 

 Castilian for tortoise, and is analogous to Robben 

 Island, so named on account of its sea lions, and Puffin 

 Island on our own coasts. It was there that Darwin 

 rode triumphantly upon a great reptile, though the 

 task is not so easy as might seem, for, in spite of its 

 apparent lethargy, the animal can perform the testu- 

 dinian equivalent of shrugging its shoulders, and one 

 is apt to be dislodged in the process. All these tor- 

 toises, however, pale their ineffectual fires before a 

 great fossil of the Siwalik hills, described to the Zoo- 

 logical Society in 1844 by Dr. Falconer and Capt. 

 Cautley. Colossochelys atlas, appropriately so named, 

 had a carapace of over twelve feet in length, according 

 to the estimate from its fragmentary remains. This 

 tortoise, according to Indian cosmogony, sustained 

 an elephant, and that elephant in its turn the world. 

 That it could have sustained an elephant upon its 

 broad back is quite probable. These legends seem to 

 show that the tortoise, or one like it, lived down to 

 human times. In any case, the remains of extinct and 

 giant tortoises are found in many places, but the only 

 living giants come from the localities which we have 

 mentioned. 



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