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VII. Description of the Living and Extinct Daces of Gigantic Land-Tortoises . — 
Parts I. & II. Introduction, and the Tortoises of the Galapagos Islands. By Dr. 
Albert Gunther, F.B.S., V.P.Z.S., Keeper of the Zoological Department of the 
British Museum. 
Received June 4 , — Read June 18, 1874. 
Pakt I.— INTRODUCTION. 
In 1865 and following years the Trustees of the British Museum obtained a series of 
Tortoise-bones from the Mauritius, chiefly due to transmission by Mr. George Clark, 
C.M.Z.S. It consisted of limb-bones and portions of the cranium ; and particular 
interest was attached to it, as these remains had been found associated with the bones 
of the Dodo, and as the race of these reptiles had shared the fate of that remarkable 
bird, having long ago succumbed to the onslaught of the numerous enemies who took 
possession of their limited home. 
The circumstances under which these bones were found will be readily understood 
from the following abstract of Mr. Clark’s “ Statement”*: — 
“ On the estate called ‘ Plaisance,’ about three miles from Mahebourg, in the island 
of Mauritius, there is a ravine of no great depth or steepness, which, apparently, once 
conveyed to the sea the drainings of a considerable extent of circumjacent land, but 
which has been stopped to seaward, most likely for ages, by an accumulation of sand 
extending all along the shore. The outlet from this ravine having been thus impeded, 
a sort of bog has been formed, called ‘ La Mare aux Songes,’ in which is a deposit of 
alluvium, varying in depth, on account of the inequalities of the bottom, which is formed 
of large masses of basalt, from 3 to 10 or 12 feet. The proprietor of the estate, a few 
weeks ago, conceived the idea of employing this alluvium as manure ; and shortly after, 
the men began digging in it ; when they had got to a depth of 3 or 4 feet they found 
numerous bones of large tortoises, among which were a carapace and a plastron pretty 
nearly entire, as also several crania These were found imbedded in a black 
vegetable mould, the lighter-coloured specimens being near the springs.” 
My attention was directed to these remains in the year 1872, when I received from 
my esteemed correspondent, L. Bouton, Esq., a further consignment of Chelonian bones, 
consisting : — 
1. “Of the carapace of a Tortoise found at Grand Port, a few years ago, in the same 
place where the bones of the Dodo were also found — in a marshy place called 4 Mare* 
aux Songes.’ ” [This appears to be the carapace mentioned in the above statement 
but no plastron was received with it then or afterwards.] 
* See Trans. Zool. Soc. vi. p. 51. 
