GIANT LAND-TORTOISES 337 



appears to be known of the Reunion, Comoro, and 

 Amirante tortoises, but it is stated by Mr. Rothschild 

 that the one from Reunion differed from all the other 

 Mascarene forms, and resembled those from Aldabra. 

 Special interest attaches to the history of the surviving 

 representatives of the presumed Seychelle tortoise, which 

 has been named T. sumeirei. It appears that in the year 

 1766 five giant tortoises from the Seychelles were taken 

 to Mauritius by the Chevalier Marion de Fresne, and have 

 been since known as Marion's tortoises. In 1833 one 

 which died soon after, was brought to the London Zoo- 

 logical Gardens, where a second arrived some years later. 

 A third was received in 1898, but did not long survive 

 its journey. The other two are still living in Mauritius. 

 By far the most celebrated of these latter is the one in 

 the Royal Artillery Barracks at Port Louis. It is now 

 nearly blind, although otherwise in good health. The 

 shell measures about forty inches in a straight line, and 

 is reported to have been of that size so long ago as 

 1810. Probably this tortoise was at least a century 

 old when first brought to Mauritius nearly one hundred 

 and forty years ago. In its long thick neck, and the 

 absence of a nuchal shield, Testudo sumeirei agrees with 

 the Mascarene species, and as it is quite different from the 

 Aldabra forms, Mr. Rothschild considers that its original 

 home was the Seychelles, whence Marion brought his 

 specimens probably some of the last survivors of their 

 kind to Mauritius as curiosities. Possibly the tortoise 

 brought in 1798 from the Seychelles to Colombo, where 

 it survived till 1897, may have been of the same species. 

 The length of its shell is fifty- three and a half inches, or 

 only an inch and a half less than that of the great South 

 Aldabra tortoise noticed below. 



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