220 MR. E. G. BOULENGER ON THE 
one, pushed the pup with her head until it found the teats, and 
the rearing has presented no difficulty. A few interesting features 
presented themselves. 
“On June 21st I had the partition removed, and the pup 
immediately went into the water and continued to return there, 
although the mother threw it out by the neck repeatedly, finally 
in so rough a manner as toendanger its life. June 28th, the pup 
climbed over the two-foot fence. This was then raised to three 
feet, which was beyond its powers. ‘The keeper tells me that on 
July 2nd the mother carried the pup by the neck to the water, 
kept it in the tank and on the side for half an hour, and then 
carried it back to the safe retreat. Neither then nor subsequently 
did I see this interesting sight. And later the mother seemed 
rather careless of the young one when in the water. An occasional 
bath seemed necessary, and as the little one had no notion of sur- 
mounting the three inches from the water to the side of the bath, 
the keepers had to watch his swim—he is a male—and then lift 
him out, a duty that increased in difficulty as he grew stronger 
and, strangely enough, more shy. 
“‘ At five months old it learned to leap out. At six months it 
began to play with fish given to the mother, and after a fortnight 
it ate a little. It still sucks. It is very lively in the water, 
fond of swimming on its back and stroking its nose with the 
fore flippers, a trait common to Cape Sea-Lions which I have 
never noticed among the Californians. The pup has a pearly- 
grey pelage; the head is round and well bombed, and the whole 
animal bears a close resemblance to the male parent. 
“The adult animals are kept in the open with free access to a 
shelter which they never use. 
“The male is usually in the water and generally drives the 
female out very quickly. This hostility is suspended in severe 
weather, when both animals swim continually to keep the ice 
from forming.” 
Giant Saddle-backed Tortoise. 
Mr. E. G. BouLencer, F.Z.S., Curator of Reptiles, exhibited a 
photograph (text-fig. 1) of a female example* of the Giant Saddle- 
backed Tortoise (Testudo abingdonii), recently purchased by the 
Society. On the arrival of the tortoise, the origin of which was 
unknown, Mr. Boulenger was somewhat puzzled as to the species 
to which it should be referred, but, on carefully comparing it with 
the Saddle-backed Tortoises in the British Museum, came to the 
conclusion that the specimen was none other than the hitherto 
unknown female of ZY. abingdonii, a species which had never 
previously been brought to Europe alive, and which was thought 
to be extinct. An inspection of the very representative collec- 
tion of Giant Tortoises in the Tring Museum strengthened the 
conclusion arrived at. 
* [The tortoise has since died, and turned out to be a male-——EprTor, P. Z. 8.] , 
