LAND- TOR TOISES. 



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. . *» ■-. , 



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 



