APPENDIX TO THE CATALOGUE OF SHIELD KEPTILES. 



but 'which is now known to be an African genus ; and the 

 specimens must have been taken to Demcrara by some 

 ships from Africa ; for I am informed that it has not even 

 colonized, much less is it naturalized, in that country ; but 

 it is probable that some of the negroes, who are fond of 

 living animals, may have taken specimens with them. 



" Mr. Sclater, who gives the name of ' Chilian Land- 

 Tortoise ' to this species in his list of accessions, P. Z. S. 

 1870, p. 665 (and I merely translated his name), objects to 

 my calling it Testudo chilensis because there is a doubt of 

 its being found on the west side of the Andes. Though 

 his notes on this subject appear before my paper, which is 

 printed in page 706 of the same volume, my paper was 

 sent to the Society before his observations were made. Mr. 

 Sclater declares all through his observations that the Tor- 

 toise observed by Burmeister, D'Orbigny, and others in 

 South America is Testudo stellata, one of the most common 

 Indian species, instead of T. sulcata, which is the species 

 that these authors erroneously considered common to Africa 

 and America." — Ann. Sr Mag. Nat. Hist. 1871, viii. p. 70. 



Molini includes in his ' Natural History of Chili ' several 

 animals which are now said only to be found on the eastern 

 slopes of the Cordilleras ; and one or more of the species so 

 described has been named chilensis ; so that Chili did not ap- 

 pear formerly to have the restricted sense which some modern 

 zoologists wish to assign to it. I agree with Temminck in 

 objecting generally to the use of geographic specific names, 

 as liable to this objection ; but one is apt to fall into the 

 fault, and the use of the name Testudo argentina is doubly 

 objectionable. 



Testudo indica (p. 5), add : — 



" Hab. Seychelles ; often introduced into gardens in 

 Mauritius, where it is eaten." — Blyth, Journ. Asiatic Soc. 

 Calcutta, xxii. p. 369. 



" And it is from the Mauritius that we believe the few 

 in India have been imported. It is most assuredly not an 

 Indian reptile ; nor have we even heard of its propagating 

 in this country." — Blyth, I. c. 



Testudo gigantea, Schweigger, Prodr. pp. 327 & 362, and 

 Dameril et Bibron, Erpet. ii. 120, may be an abnormal 

 specimen of T. indica with separate caudal shields and a 

 nuchal plate ; or it may be founded on a specimen of Scapia 

 Pliayrei. The specimen from which it is described is 

 without a head, in the Paris Museum. 



" Mr. Theobald objects to the specific name of Testudo 

 indica. There is a veiy large number he can choose from ; 

 for, unfortunately, this species has been described under a 

 number of names ; but I prefer not to change one which is 



so well known, and which was the first given to it." — Gray, 

 P. Z. S. 1871, p. 515. 



Testudo elephantina, Dumeril et Bibron, Erpetologie 

 Ge'nerale, ii. 146, said to inhabit the islands in the Mozam- 

 bique channel, Bourbon, and Isle of France, is probably 

 only a variety of this species. It is characterized as having 

 " le plus souvent une petite plaque nuchale, la sus-caudale 

 simple ou accidentellement double." 



Testudo elephantopus (p. 5), add: — 



Testudo elephantopus, Harlan, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil. 

 v. p. 284, t. 11 (bad). 



Gray, P.Z.S. 1870, p. 708, pi. 41. 

 Testudo planiceps, Gray, P.Z.S. 1853, p. 12; Cat. Sh. 



liept. p. 6, tab. xxxiv. (skull). 

 Testudo californica, Ferussac, Bull. Set. Nat. p. 191. 

 Testudo nigra, Quoy <$r Gaim. 



Frey. Voyage, Zool. i. p. 174, pi. 40. 



Meyen, Nov. Acta Alad. Leop. Carol, xvii. p. 188, t. 1 '■'< 



(adult). 

 Gray, Tortoises, Terrapins, fy Turtles, tab. 6 (from life). 

 Geochelone Schweiggeri, Fitzinger, Wiener Sitzungsberichte, 

 x. 403 (1853). (These are probably all synonyms of 

 this sjiecies). 



Shell and animal black. Head with one pair of frontal 

 and a square crown-shield, with a flat crown. Thorax 

 oblong, rather depressed, black ; shields irregularly con- 

 centrically grooved ; areola central. The beak slightly 

 keeled in front and slightly bidentate. The fore legs 

 covered with rather large scales, with a spur-like tubercle 

 on the inner side of the elbow -joint ; hind legs covered 

 with numerous small scales, with larger scales on the soles, 

 those on the hinder margin being prominent ; fifth vertebral 

 shield as broad as the two caudal and two hinder marginal 

 shields. 



Hab. South America, Galapagos, and Jamaica. 



This species is exceedingly like Testudo indica, but is 

 distinguished from it by the flatness of the crown and the 

 absence of a nuchal plate. Length over the back 10 inches ; 

 width 9| inches. The sternum truncated in front ; gular 

 plates small; pectoral plates narrow; anal plates small, 

 notched behind. 



There are two young specimens and several shells of a 

 black Tortoise in the British Museum without any nuchal 

 plates, which have hitherto been recorded as varieties of 

 T. indica. They are all without any special habitat, and 

 therefore may be from S. America. 



This species is probably the Elephant-Tortoise of the 

 Galapagos Islands, Testudo elephantopus, Harlan, who 

 described his specimen as having " twenty-three marginal 



b2 



