THE LAND TORTOISES AND TERRAPINS 2411 



to be very fond of plunging into water during the hot season, where they would re- 

 main for half an hour at a time. They also drank large quantities of water at this 

 period of the year, which they took by thrusting in their heads and swallowing in a 

 series of gulps. About November the female lays her eggs in a shallow pit ex- 

 cavated by herself. One of the aforesaid captive specimens in the course of about 

 two hours ' ' succeeded in making a hole six inches in depth and four inches in 

 diameter; in this she immediately deposited her eggs, four in number, filling up the 

 hole again with the mud she had previously scraped out, and then treading it well 

 in, and stamping upon it with her hind-feet alternately until it was filled to the sur- 

 face, when she bent it down with the whole weight of her body, raising herself 

 behind as high as she could stretch her legs, and suddenly withdrawing them, allow- 

 ing herself to drop heavily on the earth, by which means it was speedily beaten flat; 

 and so smooth and natural did it appear that, had I not detected her in the per- 

 formance of her task, I should certainly never have noticed the spot where she had 

 deposited her eggs. She did not immediately leave the place after finishing her 

 work, but remained inactive, as if recovering from her fatigue." In disposition 

 these tortoises are decidedly pugnacious, this being especially the case with the 

 males. These combats seemed to be chiefly trials of strength, "one male confront- 

 ing the other, with the hind- and fore -legs drawn into the shell, and the hind-feet 

 planted firmly on the ground, and in this manner striving against each other until 

 one or both became fatigued. This was done chiefly when they wanted to pass each 

 other in any narrow space, and sometimes if the one could succeed in placing his 

 shell a little beneath the other, he tilted him over on his back, from which he'had 

 great difficulty in recovering himself; and I have frequently found them sprawling 

 thus, making desperate efforts with head and feet to throw themselves back to their 

 natural position, which they were unable to effect unless the ground chanced to be 

 very uneven, so as to assist them." 



During the Pliocene, or later division of the Tertiary period, gi- 

 gantic land tortoises were, as attested by their petrified remains, 

 widely distributed over the continents of the world, species having 

 been obtained from India, France, and North and South America. The largest of 

 these was the well-known atlas tortoise ( 71 atlas} from the Siwalik hills of Northern 

 India, in which the length of the shell was about six feet, the species itself being 

 apparently allied to the existing Burmese brown tortoise already referred to. 

 Probably more or less abundant during the epoch in question, with the advent of the 

 ensuing Pleistocene epoch giant tortoises seem to have disappeared entirely from 

 the continental areas, to survive on certain oceanic islands where they were free 

 from the competition of large animals of higher organization. Some of these insu- 

 lar species, like those of Madagascar and Malta, did not apparently survive the 

 Pleistocene epoch; while in other regions they flourished and multiplied till the fell 

 presence of man led to their partial or total extermination. At the present day the 

 few survivors of these monstrous reptiles are being rapidly reduced in numbers, and 

 unless special means be speedily taken for their preservation, they will ere long 

 entirely cease to exist. During the historic period the islands where giant tortoises 

 are known to have existed constitute three distinct groups. Two of these are situ- 



