NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE, 



Vol. III. JUNE, 1890. No. 2. 



FURTHER NOTES ON GIGANTIC LAND TORTOISES. 



By the HON. WALTER ROTHSCHILD. 



HAVING lately become possessed of the very fine collections made by Dr. Georg 

 Baur on the Galapagos Islands, some interesting facts have come to li'dit in 

 connection with the tortoises collected on that expedition. The total number 

 recorded by Dr. Baur consists of twenty-one specimens, of which three sjjecimens 

 from South Albemarle and four from Duncan Island have passed into my possession. 

 In an article in the American NaturfiUst for December 1889 Dr. Baur publishes an 

 elaborate and most valuable supplement to Dr. Giinther's famous work on the 

 Gigantic Land Tortoises, living and extinct, which was published in 1877. In this 

 article, among other notes, Dr. Baur gives a synoiisis of all the species then known 

 to inhabit the Galapagos group. In this synopsis he, to my mind, proves that 

 elephantopus Harl. is the vicina of Giinther, that elephantopus Jackson {nee Harl.) 

 was new, and that elephantopvs Giinth. (nee Harl.) was also without a nanje. To the 

 two latter he gi\es the names of Testudo galapagoensis and T. gautheri respectively. 

 He therefore recognises six species of tortoise.s from the Galapagos Islands. 

 Dr. Baur, however, from certain records, tries to prove that Dr. Giinther's Testudo 

 ephippiuiii is identical with ?'. ahingdonii of the same author. This he goes to 

 pro\'e on circumstantial evidence only, for he entirely ignores the fact, partially 

 stated in the description, that T. ephippium has the thickest carapace of all this 

 group, while Testudo ahiiigdonii has a carapace almost as thin as paper in most 

 parts. Under these circumstances I think we are justitied in accepting .seven 

 distinct species as being known to have inhabiled the Galapagos Islands, as follows : — 



Testudo abingdonii Giinth., Abingdon Island. 



T. ephippium Giinth. 



2\ elejjjumtojjus Harl., >South Albemarle. 



T. 'inicrophyes Giinth., North Albemarle. 



T. nigrita D. & B. 



T. galapagoensis Baur, Charles Island. 



T. gilntheri Baur, James Island. 



As there are, however, many more islands on which, as we know from records as 

 late as 1835, there were tortoi.ses, we can, I think, fairly assume that the Galapagos 

 Islands held at the time of their discovery at least fifteen species of tortoises. 



Before proceeding to the discussion of Dr. Baur's specimens, I think it will be 

 of interest to give a translation of that portion of the narrative of Dr. Baur's 

 expedition, in the Beilnge der Miinchener AUgemeinen Zeitung, Nos 2(> — 29, 1892, 

 wliirh deals willi the (^qitnrc of llic tortoises. 



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