310 



A fossil carapace from Melsbroeck, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Brussels, was supposed, by M. Faujas St. Fond, to 

 belong to test, mydas ; but Cuvier observes, that, in the 

 fossil specimen, the intervals of the ribs are completely 

 ossified, there being no space between their ossification and 

 the border, which is much wider than in its supposed 

 analogue ; and, on other considerations, he determines that 

 it is of an unknown species. This acute anatomist has 

 observed that M. Faujas St. Fond has erred in considering 

 some fossil remains of tortoises, found in St. Peter's Moun- 

 tain, Maestricht, as possessing specific characters derived 

 from their forms ; since those forms have been produced, 

 in one case, by their having lost a part, and, in the other, 

 the whole of their bony margin : and he is satisfied that 

 these fossils belong to sea-tortoises of unknown species. 



In the mountain named Plattenberg, near Glaris, have 

 been found the fossil remains of tortoises, and which are 

 supposed, by Cuvier, to have been sea-tortoises, but respect- 

 ing their species he cannot form any judgment. In the 

 neighbourhood of Aix are found the remains and impressions 

 of tortoises, which, from their vaulted forms, are considered 

 as the remains of land-tortoises. 



The fossil remains of tortoises do not appear to have 

 been found in any formation older than that of the lias, 

 unless that fossil should be excepted which Knorr states 

 to have been found near Glaris, the matrix of which he 

 describes as being a black schist. 



Mr. Johnson, of Bristol, was rewarded, during a zealous 

 and judicious search in the lias on the borders of the Severn, 

 with some very interesting remains of tortoises. Their 

 remains have also been found in the calcareous slate of the 

 oolite formation at Stonesfield ; but in no place have their 

 remains been found much more perfect than in the London 

 clay in the Island of Sheppey. 



The soft tortoise (trionyx^ Geoffroy) appears to have 



