( 184 ) 



TESTUDO GALAPAGOEXSIS. 



BY DK. A. GtlNTHER, F.B.S. 



(Plates XVI.-XXI.) 



IN a pajier entitled " The Gigantic Laml-Toitoises of the Gahipagos Islands " * 

 the late Dr. G. Baur made the highly interesting statement that tlie Boston 

 Society of Natural History possesses the skeleton of a tortoise, the history of which 

 could be clearly traced, and which uiidonbtedly came from tlharles Island. The 

 specimen was one of two, presented to the Society in ls34t hy Commodore John 

 Dowries, who had obtained them on a visit to the (ialapagos archipelago in 1833, 

 while in command of the U.S. Frigate Potom/ic. His visit was limited to Charles 

 Island. J 



These two specimens, as Dr. Baur has pointoil out, were the subject of a jiaper § 

 by Dr. J. B. S. Jackson, " Anatomical Description of the Galapagos Tortoise," from 

 which we learn that they were of different sexes, and very unlike in external 

 appearance. Dr. Jackson's notes ou the anatomy of the soft parts and of the bones 

 are partly taken from the »;«;<?, partly from the /onale. He gives on plate 10 a 

 coloured rejireseutation of the femii/e, rongh bnt characteristic, and on plate 11 

 a good illustration in outline of the carapace of the mule. 



Only one of the specimens, the male, seems to have been preserved for the 

 collection of the Boston Society, and the measurements given by Jackson iucontest- 

 ably prove the identity of the specimen still extant with that described by him. It 

 is not known what has become of the/amale. 



Jackson did not think otherwise bat that one species only inhabited the 

 Galapagos Islands, for which he adopted the name proposed by Harlan, Testiu/o 

 elepliaidopus. His description, therefore, is of a very general character, without 

 reference to points which become apparent only on a closer comparison of specimens 

 from different islands. Dr. Baur was the first to state that this sjiecinien from 

 Charles Island differed specifically not only from T. fh'phantojitiK of Harlan, but 

 also from the species described by myself under that name — this last, in his 

 opinion, being again different from Harlan's species. Leaving, at present, aside the 

 question of the distinctness of the two forms described by Harlan and myself as 

 T. elephant jilts, I limit myself in this jKiper to the examination of the Cliarles 

 Island race. 



Dr. Baur names this latter Testmlo (//il(rpfi//(h'»s/,s, but wlien we ask on what 



* Amej: .\ut ls89. p. 10:ia. 



+ Biisfon Jiiiirnal nf Xat. I/ixt. I, 1837, pp. 443 and 521. 



J Reynolds, Z. N., Voijuiir of the U.S. Frhja'r '• Polimiti;" under the eniiimniid of Com in ml ore John 

 Doinien, ditriiui the crrcnmnavigatioti of the tflobe in the i/ear^i ls;il-4. New York, ISH.t. pp. IHl, 517. — 

 Apart from the circumstantial evidence connecting the specimen in the licston Museum witti Downcs' visit 

 to Charles Island, the information ou tortoises in this work is extremely meagre, and mostly deri\ed from 

 Porter. 



§ lioston Journal of Nat. liM. I, 1837, pp. 44.3-04. pi. 10 and 11. 



