388 FAUNA ANTIQUA SIVALENSIS. 



APPENDIX TO MEMOIE ON EMYS. 

 Manuscript Memorandum by Dr. Falconer, April 1844. 



Mr. T.BelVs Opinion of the fossil ' Emi/s tecta.'' — ' On comparing the 

 fossil with two specimens of recent Emys tecta, it looks a little flatter, 

 but in this respect it does not differ more from either than these do 

 between themselves, and certainly not more than would lead me to 

 think, were it a recent one, that it was the same species. In regard 

 to the first vertebral plaque, it is broader, flatter, and squarer ; but 

 this is hable to variation in the recent species to an equal extent. If 

 the three specimens were all recent, I would merely consider them as 

 varieties of the same species.' 



' This,' adds Dr. F., ' is an admirable fact ; for if this species has lived 

 down to the human period, why might not the Colossochelys have done 

 so ? Refer to Ward's " History of the Hindoos," to the article " Garuda 

 or Giiroora," the king of the birds, for the fable of his having found an 

 elephant and a tortoise contending together, and having made a repast 

 upon them. Joining the indication given by the Hindoo mythology 

 with the determined fact of the little Emys tecta having survived from 

 the fossil period down to the present day, I have put forward the 

 opinion that the big Tortoise may have survived also, and only become 

 extinct within the human period. This is a most impoi tant matter in 

 reference to the history of man.' (Letter to Captain Cautley, April 1844.) 



