104 Dorothea Bate — A Gigantic Land Tortoise 



damaged. The curvature in these examples is pronounced, but not 

 nearly so mai'ked as in the smaller T. pyrenaica or in T. perpiniana 

 from the Pliocene deposits of lioussillon. 



In the left humerus (Fig. 1) the radial process and the region 

 of the ectepicondylar canal are wanting ; the head is prominent, but 

 on comparison was found to be considerably smaller than in a Mada- 

 gascan specimen, with which, on the other hand, it agrees in the 

 absence of any excavation between the head and the ulnar process. 

 Its greatest length is 21 '3 cm. and the smallest part of the shaft 

 is about 10-4 cm. in circumference. In the right humerus the head 

 and ends of the radial and ulnar processes are missing; the circum- 

 ference of the shaft is 9"3 cm., while the greatest width at the distal 

 extremity is 7*3 cm. 



A third example consists of the imperfect distal extremity of the 

 left hiimerus, which must have been tiiat of an individual of about 

 half the size indicated by the specimens described above. Two 

 fragmentary specimens probably represent portions of the distal 

 extremities of humeri which would have greatly exceeded in size 

 any of the other corresponding bones in the collection. One shows 

 a thickness of 4*4 cm., as compared with 3-5 cm. in the right 

 humerus described above, while the second fragment was probably 

 part of a bone of still greater dimensions. There is no example 

 of this limb-bone in the earlier collection from Malta, but two 

 are included among the casts recently acquired. One of these 

 (B,M. ^^y) is of the right side, and is in an almost perfect state 

 of preservation except for the loss of the greater part of the ulnar 

 process. Its greatest length is 23 cm., and the smallest circum- 

 ference of the shaft is 11 "4 cm. and the greatest width of the distal 

 extremity is 8'7 cm. These measurements are only slightly greater 

 than those of the two well-preserved specimens from Menorca. The 

 second specimen is the very large one already referred to. 



It may be worth mentioning that in the British Museum 

 (Nat. Hist.) collection there is an isolated specimen of this limb-bone 

 from Madagascar (E, 2104) which is truly colossal, and differs as much 

 from the remainder of the collection from that island as it does from 

 the Menorcan examples. Its proportions may be realized fi'ora its 

 greatest length, which is 35 cm., the smallest circumference of the 

 shaft 19' 1 cm., and the greatest width of the distal extremity 14'4cm. 

 These measurements indicate a creature surpassing in size any other 

 known Pleistocene form. 



Radius. — The collection includes two distal extremities of this 

 limb-bone, neither of very large dimensions. The smaller is of the 

 left side, and, though stouter, in general outline it resembles the 

 smaller of two specimens in the Maltese collection, especially in 

 the angle of the ulnar articulation, which is very different in some 

 other species. Its circumference at the break is about 47 mm., and 

 the greatest thickness of the carpal articulation is 14 mm. The pre- 

 axial angle is missing. The second example is of tlie right side and 

 is broken off a short distance above the ulnar articulation. It has 

 a circumference of 52 mm. at the break and a greatest thickness of 

 hardly more than 18 mm. A very large radius of the right side in 



