26o 



NATURE 



{July 29, 1875 



3. No means being taken for thteir protection, they have 

 become extinct in nearly allthc-e islands, and Aldabra is now 

 the only locality where the Iiut lemains of this animal form are 

 known now to exist in a state of nature. 



4. We have been informed that the Government of Mauritius 

 have granted a concession of Aldabra to parties who intend to 

 cut the timber on this island. If this project be carried out, 

 or if otherwise the island is occupied, it is to be feared, nay 

 certain, that all the tortoises remaining in this limited area will 

 be destroyed by the workmen employed. 



5. We would, therefore, earnestly submit it to the considera- 

 tion of Your Excellency whether it would not be practicable that 

 the Government of Mauritius should cause as many of these 

 animals as possible to be collected before the wood-cutting parties 

 or others land, with the view of their being transferred to the 

 Mauritius or the Seychelle Islands, where they might be depo- 

 sited in some enclosed ground or park belonging to the Govern- 

 ment, and protected as property of the Colony. 



6. In support of the statements above made and the plan now 

 submitted to the Mauritius Government, the following passages 

 may be quoted from Grant's "History of Mauritius" (1801, 

 4to.) :— 



"We (in Mauritius) possess a great abundance of both land 

 and sea turtle, which are not only a great resource for the 

 supply of our ordinary wants, but serve to barter with the crews 

 of ships" (p. 194). 



"The best production of Rodriguez is the land-turtle, which 

 is in great abundance. Small vessels are constantly employed 

 in transporting them by thousands to the Isle of Mauritius for 

 the service of the hospital " (p. lOo). 



" The principal point of view (in Rodriguez) is, first, the 

 French Governor's house, or rather that of the Superintendent, 

 appointed by the Governor of the Isle of France, to direct the 

 cultivation of the gardens there and to overlook the park of 

 land-turtles. Secondly, the park of land-turtles, which is on 

 the sea-shore facing the house." (p. loi.) 



7. The rescue and protection of these animals is, however, 

 recommended to the Colonial Government less on account of their 

 utility (which nowadays might be questioned in consideration of 

 their diminished number, reduced size, and slow growth, and of 

 the greatly improved system of provisioning ships which renders 

 the crews independent of such casual assistance), than on account 

 of the great scientific interest attached to them. With the excep- 

 tion of a similar tortoise in the Galapagos Islands (now also fast 

 disappearing), that of the Mascarenes is the only surviving link 

 reminding us of those still more gigantic forms which once inha- 

 bited the Continent of India in a past geological age. It is one 

 of the few remnants of a curious group of animals once existing 

 on a large submerged continent, of which the Mascarenes formed 

 the highest points. 



It flourished with the Dodo and Solitaire, and whilst it is a 

 matter of lasting regret that not even a few individuals of these 

 curious birds should have had a chance of surviving the lawless and 

 disturbed condition of past centuries, it is confidently hoped that 

 the present Government and people who support the " Natural 

 History Society of Mauritius " will find the means of saving the 

 last examples of a contemporary of the Dodo and Solitaire. 



London, April 1874 



\^Hree follow the signatures. "] 



This memorial was most favourably received by Sir A. 

 Gordon, who in his reply states that, although the inten- 

 tion of conceding the island to parties for the purpose of 

 cutting wood had not yet actually been carried out, the 

 extermination of the tortoises is proceeding quite as 

 rapidly as if this were the case. Not only are the animals 

 destroyed by the whalers, but (as he was informed by 

 visitors to the island) the pigs, which are supposed to 

 have been left there by a passing ship some years ago, 

 and which have rapidly multiplied, turn up the eggs in 

 great numbers, and even devour the very young tortoises. 

 The lessee should be bound to protect the animals and to 

 remit annually to Mauritius a pair of living ones which, 

 with others acquired by purchase, would be preserved in a 

 paddock of the Botanic Gardens at Pamplemousses. He 

 adds that in several of the Seychelle Islands such pad- 

 docks exist, the young tortoises being esteemed as articles 

 of food ; at four years they appear to be considered fit for 

 eating ; but he never observed that any are allowed to 

 grow up as breeding stock to replace the original pain 



We confidently hope that Sir A. Gordon's successor 

 will not lose sight of this matter and that the Royal 

 Society of Arts and Sciences of Mauritius, to whom a 

 copy of the memorial has been sent, with the request to 

 support the appeal of their fellow-labourers in England, 

 will recognise it as one of their duties to watch that the 

 existence of one of the most interesting animal types 

 within the limits of their own special domain, is- not only 

 prolonged but insured for all times. 



We owe it chiefly to the kind mediation of Sir A. 

 Gordon that a living pair]! of the Aldabra Tortoises are at 

 present in London. Anxious to acquire this pair for the 

 collection of the British Museum, the male being known 

 to be the finest individual of the species in existence, I 

 requested Sir A. Gordon to assist me in their acquisition, 

 the owner being at first reluctant to part with them. To 

 the excellent arrangements of the Hon. C. S. Salmon, Chief 

 Commissioner of the Seychelles, and to the most fortu- 

 nate circumstance that Dr. Brooks, the Government 

 Medical Officer, accompanied and took charge of the 

 animals on their journey to Europe, we have to thank 

 that they arrived in the most perfect state of health. The 

 Zoological Garden being clearly the most appropriate 

 place for them during their lifetime, I handed them over 

 to the Zoological Society, and have no doubt that, with 

 the interest taken in this subject by Mr. Sclater, and with 

 the care bestowed on them by Mr. Bartlett, these animals 

 have a better chance of surviving their transmission into 

 our severe climate than the specimens imported some 

 thirty or forty years ago.* Mr. Salmon writes that 

 both the tortoises are natives of Aldabra, though not 

 of the same breed. The larger, the male, has been in 

 the Seychelles for about seventy years ; its last pro- 

 prietor, M. Deny Calais, kept it with the female in a semi- 

 domesticated state on Cerf Island. His weight is about 

 800 lbs. ; the length of the shell 5 ft, 5 in. (in a straight 

 line), the width 5 ft. 9 in. ; f circumference of the shell, 

 8 ft I in. ; circumference of fore leg, i ft. 11 in., and of 

 hind leg, 1 ft. 6 in. ; length of head and neck, i f t. 9 in. ; 

 width of head, 6 in. The female is much smaller, and I 

 have no information as regards the time she was brought 

 to the Seychelles. The length of her shell is 3 ft. 4 in., 

 the width 3 ft. 10 in., the circumference 5 ft. 4 in. She 

 lays thrice every year, in the months of July, August, and 

 September, each time from fifteen to twenty round hard- 

 shelled eggs. There is every reason to believe that the 

 laying of eggs will not be interrupted by the transmis- 

 sion of the animals to England, 



Every one who sees these two tortoises side by side is 

 at once struck by the great difference in form and sculp- 

 ture of the shell. That of the male is remarkably high, 

 with a rounded outline, each plate being raised into a 

 hummock, and deeply sculptured with concentric furrows 

 along the margins. The female, on the other hand, has 

 a perfectly smooth shell with an oval outline, without 

 either furrows or raised portions. The shell of the male 

 is brownish, that of the female black. The male has also 

 a comparatively longer neck and tail than the female. It 

 is quite possible that these are sexual differences, the 

 males being known to grow to a much larger size than the 

 females. But as Aldabra consists of three islands, sepa- 

 rated by channels of the sea which are impassable bar- 

 riers to animals which may float but cannot swim, it may 

 be presumed that the two animals come from distinct 

 islands, each island of the group being inhabited by a 

 distinct race, as in the Galapagos. This is a question 



* I have kept young specimens of the Aldabra Tortoise (two of which are 

 the offspring of the very individuals now imported), as well as half-grown 

 ones of the Galapagos species, for years. Want of water and a twenty-four 

 hours' exposure to a temperature below 50° are fatal to them. In the 

 autumn and winter they must be kept in a greenhouse where the tempera- 

 ture should be kept at about 70°. With a plentiful and varied supply of 

 vegetables, they thrive well and grow perceptibly. 



t A large example, probably of the Rodriguez species, which formerly 

 lived in the Zoological Gardens, and is described in Proc. Zool. Soc, 1833, 

 p. 81, weighed 289 lbs., the shell being 4 ft, 4J in. in length (over the curve), 

 and 4 ft, 9 in, in widthi 



