THE GALAPAGOS TORTOISES. 281 



study are that the type is abnormal, somewhat aged, probably a dwarf, and 

 differs so much from the specimens obtained by Cookson as to prevent retention 

 in the same species. The Tagus Cove species is considered a new one, and, 

 being one of the largest found on the islands is named T. macrophyes (Plate 4, 6). 



The type of T. microphyes Gunther, 1875, was probably not an average 

 individual of the species. The outlines of the original figures by Wesley, are 

 sketched on Plate 11. As seen from above the shape is subelliptical, slightly 

 irregular, and slightly narrower forward. The body is depressed and has a 

 rather low arch on the back. The outline, from the side, is broadly curved 

 from front to rear. Anteriorly in the first and the second vertebral plates 

 there is some decent and posteriorly from the middle of the third vertebral 

 the curve becomes steeper and sharper. The curved width is little if any 

 greater than the curved length, certainly not so much greater as in the nearly 

 allied species, T. nigra. Compared with that species the bones of the shell 

 are thicker and heavier, the back is not so high posteriorly. The scales are 

 smooth, the marginals appear to be much worn, the edges of the carapace are 

 thickened and rounded at the edges. The sternum bears more resemblance 

 to that of T. elephantopus than to that of T. macrophyes; it is broad and broadly 

 rounded in front of the humeral extension, and behind the femoral extension, 

 across the anal scutes, it becomes when old nearly or quite truncate. The 

 skull differs from that of T. macrophyes from Tagus Cove; it agrees with that 

 of T. gilntheri from Villamiel.(^° *0. 



Young individuals of about fifteen inches in direct length, Plates 17, 19, 

 purchased on Santa Maria Island (Charles) appear rather smooth, though the 

 striae are sharper in the younger stages. The gular plates are rounded and 

 not separated by a sharp notch. In the specimen, Plate 19, the bone in the 

 anal scutes is nearly truncate and the notch is shallow but the horny scales 

 extend beyond and turn up in points behind it. Specimens of this size have the 

 shallow early indications of the sternal concavity. 



Plates 12, 20 represent specimens of about two feet in length of cara- 

 pace. In this size, with the exception of the blister-like pits, the scales are 

 smooth, the gulars, the anals, and the scallops of the edges are much changed. 

 The back is depressed to different degrees in different individuals and varies 

 in curvature. The swollen flanks of the females indicate that they are fully 

 adult. In cases the notch between the gulars, or that between the anals is 

 obsolete; in others these scutes have suffered less. The gulars thicken up- 

 ward; in some examples the anals have hardly changed. 



