528 Dr. C. W. Andrews — Gigantic Eocene Land Tortoise. 



of the rest of the border of the carapace. They are very convex, 

 both from side to side and from above downwards, and were covered 

 by the last neural and the pygal shields. 



The sides of the bridge between the plastron and the carapace 

 are greatly thickened and form a prominent border. The plastron 

 itself is larger, and the openings of the shell were consequently 

 smaller, and the soft parts therefore better protected than in most 

 of the later gigantic species of the genus; possibly this peculiarity 



Diagraniof carapace of Tcstudo Amnion. C 1-4, costal shields ; M 1-11, marginal 

 shields ; N 1-4, neural shields ; Nu, nuchal shield ; Py, pygal shield. 

 c 1-8, costal bones; m 1-11, marginal bones; n 1-7, neui-al bones; 

 rtu, nuchal bone ; py 1-3, pygal bones. The outlines of the bones of the 

 carapace are marked in dotted lines, those of the epidermal shields in 

 black lines. 



may be connected with the circumstance that large and powerful 

 carnivores coexisted with the present species, while most of the 

 more recent types are or were inhabitants of islands in which no 

 such powerful enemies are found. In some of the earlier Tertiary 

 species of Europe (e.g. Testudo gigas of the Upper Oligocene of 

 France) the plastron is likewise large, possibly for a similar reason. 



