( 1«G ) 



as it agrees with the type in every respect, the statement as to its origin seems 

 to be fnlly confirmed. 



The second specimen is still more valnal)le,inasmncli as it is, as far as we kimw 

 at ]iresent, tlie only rejiresentative of i\n\/?mii!r sex of the Charles Island race, it 

 belongs to the Musenm of Comjiarative Zoology at Cambridge, and was kindly lent 

 to Mr. Hnthsihild by Professor Alexander Agassiz. I am informed that it was 

 bonght by the late Professor L. Agassiz in Charles Island in 1871. The carapace 

 is not in good condition, most of the scutes being lost; it had been i)repared with 

 the view of monntiug it as a stnfTed example, and couseqneutly part of tlie sknll is 

 cut away, and the remainder of the skeleton (except nine dorsal vertebrae) are lost ; 

 bnt there is snfficient evidence in the parts which have been saved to prove its 

 pertinence to T. galapagoensis. The length of the carapace is 25i in. in a straight 

 line, or 32 in. along the curvature. 



Before we possessed any definite information as to the origin of the " saddle- 

 backed" specimens which were availalile for examination at the time of the 

 publication of my work on Gigantic Land Tortoises, I suggested, on the strength 

 of Porter's statements, that T. ephippium came from Charles Island.* This is 

 DOW disproved, and, as far as our present knowledge goes, the original distribution 

 of the " saddle-backed " races in the Galajiagos archipelago seems to have been : 



1. Testuilo galapagoensis : Charles Island. 



2. Testudo ephippium : Duncan Island. 



3. Testudo hecJti : North Albemarle. 



4. Testudo abingdonii : Abingdon Island. 



Carapace of the ti/pe, a mnlc, 37.| in. long. 



Although, as I shall subsequently point out, this race belongs to the ephippium 

 group of GaMpagos tortoises, the carapace (PI. XVI and PI. XVII, Fig. a) shows 

 in its form much less the peculiar compression into a saddle than the races of 

 Duncan and Abingdon Islands ; in this respect it is intermediate between those 

 races and those of Albemarle. The compression into a saddle, indeed, is indicated, 

 the anterior jiart of the carapace being rather concave on the sides, with the 

 marginal portion slightly reverted. On the whole the carapace is broad and 

 rather depressed. The upper (median) ])rofile is strongly undulated, owing to 

 the raised areolar portions of the vertebral scutes, and anteriorly gently descends 

 along the first vertebral. Posteriorly the descent of the upper profile is steep and 

 alirnjjt. Anterior and posterior margins of the carajtace irregularly scalloped ; 

 marginal scutes above the hind-legs much less strongly arched outwards tlian in 

 7'. ephippium. 



The scutes arc of a deep black colour, nearly smooth, the intermarginal striae 

 being shallow, broad, and not very conspicuous. 



Sternum deeply concave, truncated in front and behind ; the substance of the 

 anal and of the lateral jjortion of the abdominals and, in a less degree, of the gular 

 much thickened — as, in fact, the whole osseous structure of the carapace is very 

 solidly built. Viewed from the ventral side, the upper part of the caraiiace does 

 not project so much beyond the front-end of the sternum as in T. ephippium. 



• C'f. oji.eit. p. 81 ; Nov. Zool. III. p. ■.iU. 



