Although no species of the order Testudinata now inhabits the British Isles, and the Turtles and Tortoises admitted into the fauna of Great Britain by modern naturalists are only individuals which have strayed or been drifted from other latitudes, the fossil remains of Chelonian Reptiles which occur in the strata of this country afford indisputable evidence, that in very remote periods, the seas, rivers, and lands of Europe, swarmed with marine, lacustrine, and terrestrial forms of this family. It is well known that the earliest indications of the presence of reptiles on this planet, are the impressions of the feet of Turtles on the rocks of the new red sandstone formation. These foot-marks have been detected in Dumfriesshire, at Stourton quarry near Liverpool, and in various places in Germany, and are supposed to be referable to land and lacustrine species; but no decided remains of Turtles have been found in strata antecedent to the muschelkalk. At Luneville, in deposits of this epoch, bones and fragments of the carapace or dorsal shield of an extinct species have been observed.