432 NOVITATES ZOOLOOICAE XXII. 1915. 



The little tortoise No. 141 was given to me in spirit by the late Dr. Albert 

 Gunther, who had kept it alive for several years ; it had come over with its parents. 

 All its measurements were taken with a large pair of compasses. 



Testndo elephantina Dnm. and Bibr. 

 (Plates XLix.-Lii. and lv., lvi.) 



Tesluito elephnitiiia (part.) Dumeril and Bibron, Erpet. Gen. ii. p. 110 (1835). (Islands of 



Mozambique Channel.) 

 Testiido elej)hantiiia Gunther, Gig. Land-Tori. p. 21, pis. i.-iv., viii.-xvii., xix. (1877) ; Peter's 



Jicine n. Mossamb. iii. p. 3, pi. III.f.B. (1882). 

 Tesludo iiidica (part.) Gray, Si/ii. Rept. p. >J (1831) : Cat. Tort. p. -5 (1844) ; Shield Repl. i. p. 6, 



pi. XXXV. f. 1 (1855) ; Suppl Shield Rept. p. 5 (1870). 

 Testudo pottilernsa Gunther, Gig. Laud-Tort. p. 35, pis. VI., VIII., IX., XIII., and XVIII. (1877) 



( ? Hybrid T. giguiitea x T. elephantina). 



Type specimens. — The type was not marked by Messrs. Dumeril and Bibron, 

 but is evidently the very large specimen in the Paris Museum sent from the He de 

 France (Manritins) by M. Mathieu. The type of ponderosa is a ? skeleton with 

 no history in the British Museum ; it had been bonght alive by Dr. Gunther. 



Di.siribution. — It is supposed that T. elephantina inhabited the Northern Island, 

 Aldabra Islands ; but all the specimens in the various Museums have been received 

 from the Seychelles, Mauritius, or elsewhere alive, and not a single specimen is 

 known to have been collected in a wild state on Aldabra and brought to Europe 

 direct. 



Material. — Of presumably pure T. elephantina there are in the Tring Museum 

 11 c? <J and 9 ? ? , of which No. 169 was purchased stuffed, and the rest all received 

 alive from the Seychelles or Mauritius. This is the commonest of the Indian 

 Ocean tortoises in museums, and I have examined many in Paris, Vienna, and 

 elsewhere ; but there is no specimen at all approaching the large 49-inch c? in the 

 British Museum, either in size or sharpness of the specific characters. 



Diagnosis. — Nuchal plate normally present ; gulars paired ; third cervical 

 vertebra biconvex ; front of carapace strongly declivous, much lower than middle ; 

 height at nuchal plate more than 25% of straight length (:*8-39%) ; difference 

 between percentages of heights at third vertebral and nuchal plate more than 20% 

 (22%) ; carapace strongly dome-shaped and oblong, very wide anteriorly ; centre of 

 scntes often very strongly raised and embossed ; width at junction of second and 

 third marginals more than 47% (48-(30%) ; front and hind marginals not — or very 

 feebly — everted, and not produced ; length over curve not more than 140% 

 {128-14U%) ; generally equal to or slightly less than width over curve; in about 

 30% of the individuals it distinctly exceeds the width over curve ; vertical height 

 to marginals very variable, 3-9%; size large adult Si 35-49 inches; plastron 

 long, greatest percentage 92% ; plates distinctly striated. Scutes of head and 

 forelegs flat and level with surface of skin. 



General Remarks. — The description given by Messrs. Dumeril and Bibron was 

 made from some seven or eight specimens sent from Bourbon, Mauritius, and 

 Anjouan by Messrs. Mathieu and Dnssnmier ; but as they give fnll measurements 

 of the one sent by Monsieur Mathieu, and moreover lay stress on it as being an 

 extra large specimen, while dismissing the rest simply in the words : " et les six 

 ■ou sept autres que uous possedons," it is evident that that is the type. Otherwise 

 the name could not stand, as among these seven or eight are one or two gigantea 



