Vol. II, Pt. I] VAN DENBURGH— GALAPAGOS TORTOISES 251 



established, it seems best to pass over the name Testudo ni- 

 grita, and to use for the Indefatigable Island race the name 

 Testudo porteri. 



5. Testudo planiceps Gray. 1855 



This name was established for a skull of unknown origin. 

 Dr. Glinther regarded it as representing the race previously 

 named Testudo nigrita. The name has since appeared only 

 in the synonymy of that tortoise. 



6. Testudo ephippium Giinther. 1875 



The original description of this species was published by 

 Dr. Gunther, in 1875, in the Philosophical Transactions. It 

 was based upon a single specimen of unknown origin belong- 

 ing to the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Arts. Because 

 Porter's remarks on the tortoises of Charles Island applied so 

 well to this specimen. Dr. Giinther was originally^ of the 

 opinion that it represented the Charles Island race, but he 

 later^ referred it to Indefatigable Island. 



Dr. George Baur,^ in 1889, was convinced that Testudo 

 ephippium represented the Abingdon Island race. This was 

 chiefly because of some notes which Dr. Baur found in an 

 edition of Captain Basil Hall's Extracts from a Journal.^ 

 Captain Hall visited the Galapagos Islands in January, 1822. 

 Abingdon was the only island upon which he landed. Speak- 

 ing of the tortoises, Captain Hall says: "We took some on 

 board, which lived for many months, but none of them sur- 

 vived the cold weather off Cape Horn. I preserved one in 

 a cask of spirits, and it may now be seen in the Museum of 

 the College at Edinburgh; it is about the medium size." 



As Dr. Giinther remarks,^ "this discovery received further 

 confirmation when Dr. Traquair, on renewing his inquiries, 

 found in the records of the old College Museum an entry of 

 a 'Large Turtle from South Sea — Captain Basil Hall.' Un- 



iTrans. Royal Soc. Lond. 1875, pp. 260, 271. 



SGigantic Land Tortoises Brit. Mus., 1877, p. 11. 



3Am. Nat., xxiii, 1889, pp. 1041-1042. 



4Hall, Extracts from a Journal written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and 

 Mexico, in the Years 1820, 1821, 1822. Part II. London, 1840. (Original Edi- 

 tion, Edinburgh, 1824.) 



5Novitates Zool., in. No. 4, 1896, p. 333. 



September 30, 1914. 



