MiftceUaneous. 397 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Preliminary Notice of some Extinct Tortoises from the Islands of 

 Rodriguez and Mauritius. By Dr. Albert Gunther, F.R.S. 



Some time ago M. L. Bouton, of Port Louis, sent me for examination 

 some Chclonian remains from Rodriguez and the Mauritius, and 

 more especially, among those from the latter island, a nearly com- 

 plete carapace. This collection has been supplemented by a series 

 of bones in the Geological Department of the British Museum, which 

 were discovered at the same time and at the same place with the 

 skeleton of Didus ineptus. 



As some time must elapse before the plates illustrating my 

 description can be finished, I think it advisable to indicate the main 

 results of my examination. 



All these tortoises belong to a group of gigantic land-tortoises, 

 characterized by a flat skull (type Testudo platijceps of Gray), and 

 by a dilated (not vertically compressed) symphysial bridge between 

 the foramina obturatoria. 



The Rodriguez species is distinguished by very slender vertebra? 

 and leg-bones, and by having the neural arch of the sixth cervical 

 vert.ebra perforated by a pair of large foramina. This species I have 

 named T. rodericensis. 



Among the remains from the Mauritius two species can be readily 

 distinguished : — 



One appears to have been the more common ; it has three serrated 

 dental ridges along the lower jaw, a peculiarity hitherto unknown 

 among recent land-tortoises : for this species I propose the name 

 Testudo triserrata. 



The other is more sparingly represented, and distinguished by 

 various modifications in the form of the bones of all the limbs. I 

 distinguish it by the name Testudo inepta. 



On the Dorsal Shield of Tolypeutes. By Dr. J. E. Grat, F.R.S. &c. 



In the ' Catalogue of Carnivorous and Edentate Mammalia {Bruta, 

 Linnaeus) in the Ikitish Museum,' p. 385, I formed these animals 

 into a family {Toljijientidce), from the manner in which they walk, 

 and on account of the dorsal disk being partially free from the back 

 of the body ; but only being able to examine a living specimen, 

 which I was afraid of injuring, I believed that the disk was attached 

 to the middle of the back, which is found not to be the case when 

 one can examine more carefully a specimen preserved in spirits. 



Mr. Edward Gerrard, Jun., has sold two specimens of the 

 Mataco {Tolypeutes conur us) to the British Museum, which had been 

 preserved in spirits ; and he has pointed out to me that these speci- 

 mens show that the dorsal disk of these animals is quite free from 

 the body of the animal, except in three places — (1st) at the front end 

 round the neck, (2nd) on the sides at the margin inside the three 

 median dorsal rings, and (3rd) over the pelvis and round the caudal 



