LAND-TORTOISES. 55 



she could stretch her legs, and suddenly withdrawing them, allowing herself to 

 drop heavily on the earth, by which means it was speedily, beaten flat; and so 

 smooth and natural did it appear that, had I not detected her in the performance 

 of .her task, I should certainly never have noticed the spot where she had 

 deposited her eggs. She did not immediately leave the place after finishing her 

 work, but remained inactive, as if recovering from her fatigues." In disposition 

 these tortoises are decidedly pugnacious, this being especially the case with the 

 males. These combats seemed to be chiefly trials of strength, " one male confronting 

 the other, with the hind and fore-legs drawn into the shell, and the hind-feet 

 planted firmly on the ground, and in this manner striving against each other until 

 one or , both became fatigued. This was done chiefly when they wanted to pass 

 each other in any narrow space ; and sometimes if the one could succeed in placing 

 his shell a little beneath the other, he tilted him over on his back, from which he 

 had great difficulty in recovering himself; and I have frequently found them 

 sprawling thus, making desperate efforts with head and feet to throw themselves 

 back to their natural position, which they were unable to effect unless the ground 

 chanced to be very uneven, so as to assist them." 



During the Pliocene, or later division of the Tertiary period, 

 Giant Tortoises. . ,. -, & , , , . -j v ' At x VG j 



gigantic land-tortoises were, as attested by their petrified remains, 



widely distributed over the continents of the world ; species having been obtained 

 from India, France, and North and South America. The largest of these was the 

 well-known atlas tortoise (T. atlas) from the Siwalik Hills of Northern India, in 

 which the length of the shell was about 6 feet ; the species itself being apparently 

 allied to the existing Burmese brown tortoise already referred to. Probably more 

 or less abundant during the epoch in question, with the advent of the ensuing 

 Pleistocene epoch giant tortoises seem to have disappeared entirely from the 

 continental areas, to survive on certain oceanic islands where they were free from 

 the competition of large animals of higher organisation. Some of these insular 

 species, like those of Madagascar and Malta, did not apparently survive the 

 Pleistocene epoch ; while in other regions they flourished and multiplied till the 

 fell presence of man led to their partial or total extermination. At the present 

 day the few survivors of these monstrous reptiles are being rapidly reduced in 

 numbers, and unless special means be speedily taken for their preservation, they 

 will ere long entirely cease to exist. During the historic period the islands where 

 giant tortoises are known to have existed constitute three distinct groups. Two 

 of these are situated in the Indian Ocean, and comprise Aldabra, to the north-west 

 of Madagascar, and the Mascarene Group including Reunion, Mauritius, and 

 Rodriguez lying to the east of the same ; while the third or Galapagos Group, 

 taking its name from the Spanish word for tortoise, is situated in the far distant 

 South Pacific, off the western coast of South America. During the sixteenth and 

 seventeenth centuries, the tortoises are stated to have existed in enormous numbers 

 in all the above-named islands ; but as they afforded a most valuable supply of 

 food, and could be kept alive on board ship, their numbers were rapidly reduced in 

 those of the Indian Ocean, and Aldabra is now the only island in that area where 

 they still exist in a wild state. Many of these tortoises were, however, exported 

 to the Seychelles, and it is believed, as we shall notice below, that one carried 



