EXTINCT MONSTERS. 
1 70 
connected with the speculations of an early period of the 
human race. 
The carapace, or buckler, of the shell of this crawling monster 
is similar in general form to the large land-tortoises of the present 
dayd The shell is estimated to have been at least six feet long. 
The limbs were probably similar to those of a modern land- 
tortoise, and the limb-bones are of huge size — a single humerus, or 
arm-bone, measuring 28 inches. Probably the foot was as large as 
that of a rhinoceros. A restored cast of a young individual stands 
at the West end of the fossil reptile gallery. South Kensington 
(Stand Z on plan). Length of the shield, 10 feet^ (see Fig. 48). 
The first fossil remains of this colossal tortoise were discovered 
by Dr. Falconer and Captain Cautley in 1835, in the Tertiary 
strata of the Sivalik Hills. At the period when it was living — 
probably the Pliocene — there was great abundance and variety of 
life on the scene, for its remains were found to be associated with 
^ Giant tortoises of the present day live on islands — where they have escaped 
competition with large carnivora and other foes — such as the Aldabra group, N. W. 
of Madagascar, in the Mascarenes, which comprise Mauritius and Rodriguez ; 
and the Galapagos, or “ Tortoise Islands,” off the coast of South America. 
When Mr. Darwin visited the latter islands he saw the relics, as it were, of a 
family of huge tortoises, which lived there in abundance a few years before, 
and was able to verify many interesting facts which had been recorded by Porter 
in 1813, who stated that some of those captured by him weighed from 300 to 
400 lbs., and that on one island they were 5^- feet long. Those of one island 
differed from those of another. Some had long necks. After Mr. Darwin’s 
visit the process of extermination w^ent on. At the present time it is most 
probable that the gigantic tortoises are very rare where formerly they were so 
abundant. One of these great tortoises is that of Abingdon Island, in the 
Galapagos Archipelago, of which there is a fine stuffed specimen in the Natural 
History Museum (Reptile Gallery). It has a very long neck, and a small flat- 
topped head with a short snout. It weighed originally 201 lbs. The Indian 
tortoises of the present day are not of large size. See the fine specimens in 
the Natural History Museum — Reptile Gallery (left wing of the building). 
2 Dr. Falconer’s estimate was much too great, so that this model is too 
large. Mr. Lydekker prefers to drop the generic term Colossochelys, and 
call it Testudo Atlas. In length it was only one-third greater than Testudo 
elephantina of the Galapagos Islands. 
