REPTILES 59 



Our material consists of the shells and skulls of a pair of adults and 

 observations and measurements on five live specimens taken by the 

 crew. 



The skulls have the broad pterygoid edges and wide shallow recesses 

 before the occipital condyles as in Giinther's figure of the type, from 

 the characters of which there is no important divergence. The notch 

 formed by the Eustachian tube on the posterior border of the tympanic 

 cavity is shallow. 



The soil of Duncan Island is a dark red loam and the reptiles all 

 partake more or less of a similar coloration. They have a slight tinge 

 of dark brick red above and the skin of the limbs, neck, and head is 

 similarly colored, with the exception in the latter of the anterior por- 

 tion of the rostral, the mandible, and the angles of the jaws, which are 

 pale yellowish. The upper portion of the throat in some specimens is 

 also yellowish. 



TESTUDO BEDSI Rothschild. 

 Tesiudo bedsi'Rom., Novit. Zobl., viii, No. 3, p. 372, 1901. 



Range. — Cape Berkeley, northwestern point of Albemarle. De- 

 scribed as intermediate between T. ephippium and T. abingdoni, 



TESTUDO ABINGDONI Giinther. 



Testudo abmgdonii Gunther, Gig. Land Tortoises, p. 85, pis. XL, xli, xlv, 

 XLViii, L, 1877 ; Novit. Zool., in, p. 330, 1896. — Boulenger, Cat. Chel. 

 Brit. Mus., p. 171, 1889. 



Testudo ephippium Baur, Am. Nat., xxiil, p. 1039, 1889 (part). 



Range. — Abingdon Islandj(P£/r5/, 1875, Albatross., 18SS). 



Probably now nearly extinct. None seen by us in June 1899, on 

 the northwest slope of Abingdon. The northern and northwestern 

 slopes of the island were explored by us from sea level to summit of 

 highest peak without finding even a trace of the present or past exist- 

 ence of Testudo. What tortoises now remain on the island are prob- 

 ably confined to the moister and greener southern slopes where the 

 Albatross and Petrel secured their specimens. 



In shape of carapace and in cranial characters this species closely 

 approaches T. ephippium. The skull of the type of T. abingdont 

 possesses a much deeper recess before the occipital condyle but this 

 difference might disappear in a series of skulls. 



Genus Gonatodes Fitzinger. 

 GonatodesY\TZ\^GY.v., Syst. Rept., p. 91, 1843. 



Range. — Malayan, Indian, Australian and Tropical American. 

 Galapagos Archipelago (one peculiar species). 



