GIANT LAND-TORTOISES 339 



is depressed, with the horny shields nearly smooth, and 

 T. gigantea elephantina, in which the shell is highly convex, 

 with the shields on the back marked by conspicuous con- 

 centric striations. In some instances the shield immediately 

 above the tail is divided, as in the extinct Siwalik tortoise. 

 The shell of a male of this species received by Mr. Roth- 

 schild in 1893 measured forty and a quarter inches in length 

 (in a straight line) four years later. The St. Helena example 

 is said to have lived in that island for more than a century. 

 It is not a little remarkable that the survivors of the 

 North Aldabra tortoise should have been preserved in the 

 Seychelles, while those of the species believed to be 

 indigenous to the latter islands have been kept in captivity 

 in Mauritius. 



In 1894 Mr. Rothschild's specimen of the North 

 Aldabra tortoise weighed 327 lb., but by 1897 its weight 

 had increased to 358 lb. These weights are, however, 

 vastly exceeded by that of the great South Aldabra 

 tortoise, which scaled no less than 560 lb. ; this was, 

 however, immediately after its journey to England, during 

 which it had become much emaciated, so that these figures 

 afford no real criterion of its proper weight. Of the habits 

 of the North Aldabra tortoise at Tring, its owner wrote 

 as follows : " Whenever the temperature is over sixty 

 (6o° Fahr.), this tcJrtoise has a fine run of 350 acres of 

 grass park, but on the temperature falling to sixty, it is 

 kept in a shed, and when once the temperature shows 

 permanently below 5 8° Fahr., it is put in an orchid-house 

 — i.e., from September to June. When at liberty in the 

 park it lives entirely on grass, but in the hothouse feeds 

 on carrots, cabbages, lettuce, and several other vegetables. 

 It is very fond of rotten fruit." 



Of the habits of the giant tortoises of the islands of 



