1835.] HABITS OF GREAT TORTOISE. 367 



pelago. Mauritius offers an apparent exception, where I saw the 

 Kana 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 the Officier du Eoi 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 nigra, 

 formerly called ludica), 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 Eng- 

 lishman, aud 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 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 those islands where there is no water, or in the 

 lower and arid parts of the others, feed chiefly on the succulent 

 cactus. Those which frequent the higher and damp regions, eat 

 the leaves of various trees, a kind of berry (called guayavita) 

 which is acid and austere, and likewise a pale green filamentous 

 lichen (Usnera plicata), that hangs in tresses from the boughs of 

 the trees. 



The tortoise is very fond of water, drinking large quantities, 

 and wallowing in the mud. The larger islands alone possess 

 springs, and these are always situated towards the central parts, 

 and at a considerable height. The tortoises, therefore, which 

 frequent the lower districts, when thirsty, are obliged to travel 



