REPTILES 



57 



In one specimen seen the coloration varied from the customary 

 blackish in having the rostral, mandible, and angles of the jaw yellow- 

 ish as in T. ephippium. 



Our material consists of the shells and skulls of four large males 

 taken east of Tagus Cove. 



The skulls differ from those of T. vicina as follows: 



1 . Tympanic cavity not armed posteriorly by a prominent process, 

 the Eustachian notch shallow. 



2. Occipital condyle small with a more or less definite recess ante- 

 riorly (in one specimen the recess is as deep as in T. nigrita). 



3. Pterygoid edges less flattened (in one specimen they are sharp). 

 The skulls differ from those of T. ephippium of Duncan Island in 



the characters of the pterygoid edges and the recess before the con- 

 dyle much as T. vicina does but the Eustachian notch is similar. 

 Comparison of these skulls seems to show that some of the characters 

 upon which herpetologists have placed specific value are subject to 

 considerable individual variation. Skull No. 4800 Stanford Museum 

 in the characters of the occipital recess and the pterygoid edges is a 

 perfect facsimile of the skull figured by Giinther as T. elephantopus. 



MEASUREMENTS OF Testudo mtcrofkyes. ADULT MALES. 



TESTUDO EPHIPPIUM Giinther. 



Testudo ephippium GUNTH., Phil. Trans., CLXV, p. 271, 1875 ; Gig. Land 

 Tort., p. 8 1, pis. xxxix, XLII-XLIV, 1877 \ Novit. Zool., in, p. 329, 

 pis. xx-xxn, 1896. BOUL., Cat. Chel. Brit. Mus., p. 171, 1889. 



Testudo abingdonii BAUR, Am. Nat., xxm, p. 1039, 1889 (part). 



Range. Duncan Island. {Albatross, 1888 and 1891 ; Rothschild 

 Exped. ; Hopkins Stanford Expedition). 



