1 835- J THE TORTOISE. 377 



or races. Of toads and frogs there are none: I was sur- 

 prised at this, considering- how well suited for them the 

 temperate and damp upper woods appeared to be. It re- 

 called to my mind the remark made by Bory St. Vincent,* 

 namely, that 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 

 throughout the Pacific, and even in the large islands of 

 the Sandwich archipelago. Mauritius offers an apparent 

 exception, where 1 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 

 tortoises ; and t!ie Officier du Roi asserts that before 1768 it 

 had been attempted, without success, to introduce 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 

 islands 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 lizards, protected by calcareous shells, 

 might be transported through salt-water, than could the 

 slimy spawn of frogs ? 



I will first describe the habits of the tortoise {Testudo 

 nig-ra, formerly called Indica), which has been so frequently 

 alluded to. These animals are found, I believe, on all the 

 islands of the Archipelago ; certainly on the greater number. 

 They frequent 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 liad afforded as 

 much as two hundred pounds of meat. The old males are 

 the largest, the females rarely growing to so great a size ; 

 the male can readily be distinguished from the female by 

 the greater length of its tail. The tortoises which live on 



* "Voyage aux Quatre lies d'Afrkiuc." With respect to the Sandwich 

 lands. »ce Tyernian and Bennett's "Journal," vol. i. p. 414. For Mauntiu.s 

 '• "Voyage par un Officier," etc., part i. p. 170. There arc no fro^s in the 

 inary Islands (Webb ct Berthelot. "Hist Nat. des lies Canaries "). i saw 

 ■lie at .St. Jago in the Cape dc Vercis. There are none .nt St. Helena. 



