UEPTILES. 151 



none of this family are found on any of the volcanic 

 islands in the great oceans. As far as I can ascertain 

 from various works, this seems to hold good through- 

 out the Pacific, and even in the large islands of the 

 Sandwich Archipelago. Mauritius offers an appa- 

 rent exception, where I saw the Rana Mascariensis 

 in abundance : this frog is said now to inhabit the 

 Seychelles, Madagascar, and Bourbon ; but, on the 

 other hand, Du Bois, in his voyage in 1669, states 

 that there were no reptiles in Bourbon except tor- 

 toises ; and the Officier du Roi asserts that before 

 1768 it had been attempted, without success, to in- 

 troduce frogs into Mauritius — I presume, for the 

 purpose of eating : hence it may be well doubted 

 whether this frog is an aboriginal of these islands. 

 The absence of the frog family in the oceanic isl- 

 ands is the more remarkable when contrasted with 

 the case of lizards, which swarm on most of the 

 smallest islands. May this difference not be caused 

 by the greater facility with which the eggs of liz- 

 ards, protected by calcareous shells, might be trans- 

 ported through salt water, than could the slimy 

 spawn of frogs 1 



I will first describe the habits of the tortoise 

 (Testudo nigra, formerly called Indica), which has 

 been so frequently alluded to. These animals are 

 found, I believe, on all the islands of the Archipel- 

 ago; certainly on the greater number. They fre- 

 quent in preference the high, damp parts, but they 

 likewise live in the lower and arid districts, I 

 have already shown, from the numbers which have 

 been caught in a single day, how very numerous 

 they must be. Some grow to an immense size : 

 Mr. Lawson, an Englishman, and vice-governor of 

 the colony, told us that he had seen several so large 

 that it required six or eight men to lift them from 

 the ground, and that some had afforded as much 



