TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 



29 



Fig. 21. 



The Mata-Mata (Chelys Jimbriata) ; British Guiana. 



vegetable- feeders, and inhabit the hotter parts of the Old as well 

 as New World, but are absent in Australia. The greater part are 

 referable to the genus Testudo, of which one species occurs in 

 Southern Europe [Testudo grceca, Case 4.2) ; another closely allied 

 species is T. mauritanica, extremely abundant in Morocco and 

 Algiers, and imported in great numbers into England. But the 

 most interesting forms of this group are the Gigantic Tortoises 

 (Cases 39-41), which were formerly found in great numbers in 

 the Mascarene and Galapagos islands. At the time of their dis- 

 covery these islands were uninhabited by man or any large 

 mammal; the Tortoises therefore enjoyed perfect security, and 

 this, as well as their extraordinary degree of longevity, accounts 

 for their enormous size and the multitude of their numbers. They 

 could be captured in any number with the greatest ease within a 

 few days, and proved to be a most welcome addition to the stock 

 of provisions. They could be carried in the hold of a ship, with- 

 out food, for months, and were slaughtered as occasion required, 

 each Tortoise yielding, according to size, from 80 to 300 pounds 

 of excellent and wholesome meat. Under these circumstances, the 

 numbers of these helpless creatures decreased so rapidly, that in 

 the beginning of this century their extermination was accomplished 

 in the Mascarenes ; and now only a few remain in a wild state 

 in Aldabra and some of the islands of the Galapagos group. "We 

 may note particularly the gigantic Land Tortoise of Aldabra (Tes- 

 tudo elephantina) ; the large male specimen (H) exhibited weighed 

 870 pounds, and although knowD to have been more than 80 years 



d2 



