Miscellaneous. 315 



memoir upon the gigantic Tortoises. One may therefore be 

 astonished at finding in this region an animal of comparatively large 

 size belonging to this group, and the characters of which do not allow 

 of its being confounded with any other species of the genus. It is to 

 one of our most zealous travellers, M. Humblot, that the Museum is 

 indebted for this curious Chelonian. That naturalist, who was in 

 possession of seven individuals of it, informs us that the present one, 

 which is of the size of a large Testudo radiata, was not the largest, 

 some of them being of nearly twice its dimensions. 



The carapace is convex, generally hemispherical, with the anterior 

 and posterior orifices not much raised, resembling that of Testudo 

 radiata, Shaw. The dorsal shield presents a slight constriction 

 in front, and is rounded behind ; there is a nuchal shield, although 

 it is very small. The form of the plastron particularly characterizes 

 this species. The gular plate, instead of being double, as is usually 

 the case in the Tortoises properly so called, is simple, as in the few 

 species of which Gray proposed to form the genus Ohersma ; this, 

 however, is only observed on the lower surface ; on the upper surface 

 there is a groove, an indication of the usual division. This plate 

 and the bony part which supports it, distinct from the rest of the 

 plastron, form a flattened, triangular process, twice as long as the 

 width of its base, and bent from below upwards, a peculiar arrange- 

 ment, the singularity of which struck M. Humblot, who observed 

 it in his seven individuals. 



The colour of the dorsal shield is yellowish red, with brown tints 

 upon the periphery of the scaly plates of the disc and on the limb ; 

 the plastron, which is uniformly straw-yellow, shows some traces of 

 a darker tint towards the margin of the abdominal plates. In fact 

 the general coloration partakes at once of those observed in Testudo 

 radiata, Shaw, and Testudo (Chersijia) angulata, Dum. 



These characters enable us at the first glance to distinguish this 

 Chelonian from the other known true Tortoises ; I propose to name 

 it Testudo ynipliora, in allusion to the peculiar form of the anterior 

 part of the plastron. 



Although the origin of this species cannot be precisely fixed, we 

 may nevertheless regard it as certain, from the information furnished 

 by the Arab sailors who sold these Tortoises to M. Humblot at the 

 Great Comoro, that these animals had been captured upon an islet 

 situated north-north-east of that place ; moreover, considering the 

 prevailing winds at the time, and the method of navigation adopted 

 by these men, their vessel could only have come from this direction, 

 that is from a locality situated towards Aldabra, perhaps even a 

 dependency of that group of islands, where we know of such curious 

 representations of the family Chersites. — Comptes Bendus, Angnst 10 

 1885, p. 440. 



Orientation of the Enihyo and Formation of the Cocoon in 

 Periplaneta orientalis. By M. P. Haliez, 



M. Haliez finds that each of the sixteen ovigerous tubes in 

 Periplaneta orientalis contains a ehaplet of ova gradually passing 



