434 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXII. 1915. 



vertebral sharply declivous) not much lower than middle ; height at nuchal plate 

 more than 33^ (3o-36%) of straight length ; difference between percentages of 

 heights at third vertebral and nuchal plate more than 12% (15-18^) ; carapace 

 hardly at all dome-shaped, more saddle-backed, long and narrow, very broad 

 anteriorly, width between second and third marginals more than 55% (56-65%) ; 

 front and hind marginals mncli everted and very strongly produced, forming a 

 deeply imbricated margin ; length over curve much less than 14U% (126-128%) ; 

 height to marginals variable, 4-9%; size very large, adnlt cJcJ 35-25 to 

 52-25 inches ; plastron very long, greatest percentage 90% ; plates entirely 

 smooth or, when half grown, very faintly striated; scutes on head and forelegs 

 flat and level with surface of skin. 



General Remarks. — This tortoise has a very great though melaucholv interest 

 above the rest of the Seychelles and Aldabra-Madagascar group in being the 

 only one of which a few individuals still linger in a wild state. The few still living 

 in South Island, Aldabra, owe their existence to the fact that there never has been 

 a permanent settlement on Aldabra, and more especially to the dense scrnb and 

 mangrove fringe on the island. For difBcnlties of present search and field notes 

 see Dr. A. Voeltzkow in Zoologiscker Garten, vol. 37, p. 30 (1896). 



Nos. 147 and 148 are the adnlt pair collected by Dr. Voeltzkow, of which 

 the ? (the only recorded ?) is an extremely old animal. This ? at first sight 

 appears not to belong to daucUnii, as the vertical " middle height " is more than 

 half the " straight length." It must, however, be remembered that this is the 

 only ? of which the measurements are recorded, and that in both elephantina and 

 gigantea ¥ ? are much more dome-shaped and show an average greater " middle 

 height" than S3. The gigantic i, No. 184, which I jmrchased from Monsieur 

 Antelme, was known on the Chagos Archipelago many years previously to the 

 definite colonisation of the Egmont Islands, in or about 1800-5, by Monsieur 

 Victor Daperrel. It lived with a female (which died in 1894) on the He aux 

 Lnbines, and was brought to Mauritius by Mr. Antelme in May 1895. I purchased 

 it (c?) in 1897, and it lived iu the London Zoological Gardens till 1899, when it 

 died of old age. lam figuring the Nos. 148 and 184, the S in the British Museum, 

 and the half-grown S from Liverpool, on Pis. xli. — xlviii. The discrepancy 

 between the actual straight length and that given in 2^ovUates Zoologicae, 1897 

 (p. 408), is due from that measurement having been taken while alive and from 

 front of first marginal scute. The lettering on the Plates xlv. and xlvi. (50 inches) 

 is due to an error. 



Testudo goaffei Rothsch. 

 (Plates Lxv., Lxvi.) 

 Testudo gouffii Rothschild, Nov. Zuol. xiii. pp. 753, 754 (1906) (Therese Island). 



Type Specimens. — The type was obtained for the Tring Museum by Messrs. 

 Goufie and James, after the first of whom it is named. It was living on Thdrese 

 Island, St. Anne's Channel, Seychelles Archipelago ; but although I am convinced 

 that it came either from the Seychelles Archipelago or Farquhar Island, I now 

 doubt if it originated on Therese Island itself, as that was one of the few islauds 

 where the tortoises had been exterminated long before 1760. 



Distribution. — This tortoise was indigenous either to one of the Seychelles 

 or the surrounding islands. It certainly did not come from Aldabra, as the 

 projecting scutes on head and forelegs, the very sharp and deep striation, and 



