GIANT LAND-TORTOISES 337 
appears to be known of the Réunion, Comoro, and 
Amirante tortoises, but it is stated by Mr. Rothschild 
that the one from Réunion differed from all the other 
Mascarene forms, and resembled those from Aldabra. 
Special interest attaches to the history of the surviving 
representatives of the presumed Seychelle tortoise, which 
has been named 7. sumezrez. It appears that in the year 
1766 five giant tortoises from the Seychelles were taken 
to Mauritius by the Chevalier Marion de Fresne, and have 
been since known as Marion’s tortoises. In 1833 one, 
which died soon after, was brought to the London Zoo- 
logical Gardens, where a second arrived some years later. 
A third was received in 1898, but did not long survive 
its journey. The other two are still living in Mauritius. 
By far the most celebrated of these latter is the one in 
the Royal Artillery Barracks at Port Louis. It is now 
nearly blind, although otherwise in good health. The 
shell measures about forty inches in a straight line, and 
is reported to have been of that size so long ago as 
1810. Probably this tortoise was at least a century 
old when first brought to Mauritius nearly one hundred 
and forty years ago. In its long thick neck, and the 
absence of a nuchal shield, Testudo sumecrei agrees with 
the Mascarene species, and as it is quite different from the 
Aldabra forms, Mr. Rothschild considers that its original 
home was the Seychelles, whence Marion brought his 
specimens—probably some of the last survivors of their 
kind—to Mauritius as curiosities. Possibly the tortoise 
brought in 1798 from the Seychelles to Colombo, where 
it survived till 1897, may have been of the same species. 
The length of its shell is fifty-three and a half inches, or 
only an inch and a half less than that of the great South 
Aldabra tortoise noticed below. 
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