CHAP. XI.] 
TIIE ETHIOPIAN BEG ION. 
289 
reached the country; and it was in consequence of this total 
exemption from danger, that several groups of birds altogether 
incapable of flight became developed here, culminating in the 
huge and unwieldy Dodo, and the more active Aphanapteryx. 
To the same cause may be attributed the development, in these 
islands, of gigantic land-tortoises, far surpassing any others now 
living on the globe. They appear to have formerly inhabited 
Mauritius, Bourbon, and Kodriguez, and perhaps all the 
other Mascarene islands, but having been recklessly destroyed f 
now only survive in the small uninhabited Aldabra islands 
north of the Seychelle group. The largest living specimen 
(5£ feet long) is now in our Zoological Gardens. The only 
other place where equally large tortoises (of an allied species) 
are found, is the Galapagos islands, where they were equally free 
from enemies till civilized man came upon the scene ; who, partly 
by using them for food, partly by the introduction of pigs, which 
destroy the eggs, has greatly diminished their numbers and 
size, and will probably soon wholly exterminate them. It is a 
curious fact, ascertained by Dr. Gunther, that the tortoises of 
the Galapagos are more nearly related to the extinct tortoises of 
Mauritius than is the living tortoise of Aldabra. This would 
imply that several distinct groups or sub-genera of Testudo have 
had a wide range over the globe, and that some of each have 
survived in very distant localities. This is rendered quite con- 
ceivable by the known antiquity of the genus Testudo , which 
dates back to at least the Eocene formation (in North America) 
with very little change of form. These sluggish reptiles, so 
long-lived and so tenacious of life, may have remained un- 
changed, while every higher animal type around them has 
become extinct and been replaced by very different forms ; as 
in the case of the living Emys tectum, which is the sole survivor 
of the strange Sivvalik fauna of the Miocene epoch. The ascer- 
tained history of the genus and the group, thus affords a satis- 
factory explanation of the close affinity of the gigantic tortoises 
of Mauritius and the Galapagos. 
The great island of Madagascar seems to have remained longer 
united with Africa, till some of the smaller and more active 
u 
