430 



NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXII. 191P. 



Key to the Species 



f Marginals strongly everted T. daitdinii 



[ Marginals feebly or not at all everted a. 



^ i Carapace flat in vertebral region 3. 



y Carapace not flat in vertebral region . 6. 



., I Nuchal plate absent, shell not depressed 4. 



' \ Nncbal plate present ........... 5. 



. \ f>hell strongly declivous in front only, narrower ... T. sumeirei 



[ Shell strongly declivous all round, broader . . . T. species, p. 436 



^ J Shell strongly depressed T. grandidieri 



y Shell not depressed T. species, p. 43fi 



Shell abruptly declivous, costals vertical T. abruptn 



Shell not abrui)tly declivous 7. 



Scutes on head and legs strongly projecting, scutes of carapace 1 



deeply striated . ^ / ^- ^'"'^^■' 



Scutes on head and legs not projecting, scutes of carapace not, or "l 



less deeply, striated J 



Scutes of carapace absolutely smooth ..... T. gigantea 



Scutes of carapace distinctly striated T. elephantinn, 



(5. 



8.. 



BESCBIFTIOSr OF THE RACES 



As these tortoises vary so much individually, it would be useless to give long 

 or detailed lists of characters and descriptions ; I am of opinion that the diagnoses 

 and the photographs will convey a better idea of the important features. 



To aid the student still further I have given a reproduction (PI. xsxiii.) of a 

 chart of the Aldabra Islands, to show the generally accepted theory that originally 

 T. daudinii inhabited the large South Aldabra Island, T. gigantea the smaller 

 North-West Aldabra Island, and T. elephantinn the large North Aldabra Island : 

 which theory, however, I doubt. There are also three Plates showing the skulls 

 of the various groups : viz. PI. xxxiv., Nos. 3, 4, and PI. xxxv., Testudo grandidieri 

 ? and Testudo elepj/mntina S, to illustrate the form of a skull peculiar to the 

 Seychelles aud Madagascar-Aldabra group ; PI. xxxvi., Testudo darwini i , to 

 illustrate that of the Galapagos group ; and PI. xxxiv.. No*. 1, '^, Testudo vosmaeri 

 S, to illustrate that of the Mascarene group. 



Testudo gigantea Schweigg. 



(Plates LXi.-LXiv.) 



Testudo ijirjanlea Schweigger, Prndr. p. 58 (Arch. Kumr/sb. pp. .327 and SiM) (1H14) ; Dum. and 



Bibr. Erpit. Gau ii. p. 120 (183.5) ; Hubrecht, iVofp.s Lpijd. J/«s. iii. p. 43 (1881). 

 Testudo hololissa Gunther, Gig. Laud-Tort. p. 39, pi. vii. (1877). 



Ti/pe specimens. — The type of T. hololissa Giinth. is No. 1021 in the Royal 

 College of Surgeons Museum. The type of Schweigger's T. gigantea is not 

 specially indicated, and I believe it must have been entirely lost. 



Distribution. — Dr. Gunther gave Aldabra as the locality fur his hololissa ; 

 trusting to the statements, reported to him, that the inhabitants of the Seychelles 

 asserted that they never had known of indigenous tortoises and all their semi- 

 domestic ones originated in Aldabra. Thanks to the careful investigations of 

 Monsieur Theodore Sanzier, we now know that even as late as 1820 numerous 

 islands of the Seychelles group still contained indigenous races of Giant Laud 

 Tortoises, and that the type came from one of these Seychelles Islands. 



