58 ME. A. C. HADDON ON EXTINCT LAND-TOETOISES. 



of nurses to the eggs, either carrying them about in purses on 

 even in their mouths. Lastly, I would allude to the fact that 

 members of two distinct families may combine together for the 

 purpose of attacking another inhabitant of the deep, and thus 

 obtain a supply of food. 



On the Extinct Land-Tortoises of Mauritius and Rodriguez. By 

 Alfeed C. Haddon, B.A., Scholar of Christ's College, and 

 Curator in the Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy 

 of the University of Cambridge. (Communicated by Prof. 

 A. Newton, F.R.S.) 



[Abstract, read November 20, 1879.] 



Theotjgh the generosity of Mr. Edward Newton, C.M.G., F.L.S., 

 Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica (late of Mauritius), a fresh 

 collection of the remains of the Mascarene extinct gigantic 

 land-tortoises has been added to his former gift to the Zoological 

 Museum of the University of Cambridge. 



An examination of these bones corroborates the two Mauritian 

 species, Testudo triserrata and T. inepta, described by Dr. Giin- 

 ther*, but adds no fresh example to that apparently unsatisfac- 

 tory species, T. leptocne?nis. Although possessing a large series 

 of remains from the island of Rodriguez, I am unable, like Dr. 

 Giinther, to distinguish more than the one species, T. vosmceri. 



As examples of the inherent tendency to variation in these 

 animals, I may draw attention to the ankylosis of the coracoid 

 with the rest of the shoulder-girdle in one example of T. inepta, 

 a circumstance which is unique ; also to the variations in the cora- 

 coid of T. triserrata as to form, markings, &c. The free coracoid 

 of T. inepta is also described for the first time. 



Erom the large number of specimens examined, it is now found 

 that the coracoid of T. vosmceri was very irregular as to the time 

 of its ankylosis with the rest of the shoulder-girdle, and that it 

 was not the "apparently individual aberration " which Dr. Giin- 

 ther supposed. 



Measurements are given of all the most interesting bones, in a 

 manner similar to that adopted by Dr. Giinther in his monograph, 

 to facilitate comparison. 



* 'The Gigantic Land-Tortoises (living and extinct) in the Collection of the 

 British Museum.' By Albert C. L. G. Giinther, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., F.E.S. 



London, 1877. 



