Contributions to the anatomy of anthropoid apes / by Frank E. Beddard.
- Frank Evers Beddard
- Date:
- 1893
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Contributions to the anatomy of anthropoid apes / by Frank E. Beddard. Source: Wellcome Collection.
173/246 page 305
![[ SOS ] XI. On Remains of an Extinct Gigantic Tortoise from Madagascar (Testudo grandidieri, Vaillant). By G. A. Boulenger. Received October 25th, 1892, read November 15th, 1892. [Plates XXXIX.-XLI.] On the 14th December, 1868, Prof. H. Milne-Edwards announced to the French Academy of Sciences1 the discovery by M. Grandidier of remains of some gigantic Tortoises in Madagascar, contemporaries of AEpyornis and Hippopotamus lemerlii. These bones were referred to two species, named Testudo alrupta and Emys gigantea by Grandidier, without, however, any descriptions being given by means of which some idea could be obtained of their affinities. So matters stood until 1885, when Prof. L. Vaillant published some notes on these remains3, which had in the meantime been restored for exhibition in the Palaeontological Gallery of the Paris Museum, at the same time showing that both species belong to the genus Testudo. The name gigantea being twice preoccupied in that genus, Grandidier’s Emys gigantea was renamed Testudo grandidieri. It is, however, not impossible that Grandidier’s tortoise will ultimately have to be regarded as a form of the true Testudo gigantea of Schweigger. To T. grandidieri belong the remains the description of which has been kindly entrusted to me by Dr. H. Woodward. They consist of two nearly perfect shells, skilfully restored by Mr. Barlow, fragments of others, an imperfect skull, and numerous bones belonging to several individuals, found by Mr. Last in South-west Madagascar, and now preserved in the Geological Department of the British Museum. Mr. Last writes, from Nossi Vey, as follows about the specimens:—“They wTere found in large caves in the rocks some two miles from the beach. These caves were formed by the sea long ago, when either the sea was higher or the land lower than it is at present. The Tortoises are found in pairs partly bedded in the fine loose sand of the caves, and, owing to the fact that they are only partly buried, many of the small bones get lost, the natives making use of these caves as hiding-places for themselves in time of war, and for their goods in time of peace. In one case, where the shell of one animal was completely underground, though broken all to pieces, I have sifted the soil and found nearly all the small bones and a head, which seems to me very small for so large an animal.” Unfortunately, Mr. Last did not keep apart the bones which he secured in connexion with the shell, but sent them home mixed up with those of several other individuals. This has necessitated considerable labour on my part in identifying them, and in several 1 Comptes Rendus, lxvii. 1868 p. 1165. 2 Comptes Rendus c. 1885, p. 874. vol. xiii.—part yiii. No. 1.—April 1894. 2 y](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28141386_0173.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
