296 



CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Proc. 4th Ser. 



Testudo abingdoni Giinther 



Abingdon Island Tortoise 



Plates 24 to 29. 



Testudo abingdonii GunthEr, P. Z. S., 1877, p. 66 ; GunthEr, Gigantic 

 Land Tortoises Brit. Mus., 1877, p. 85, pis. XI, XII, XIV figs. D-F, 

 XLVIII-L; BouLENGER, Cat. Chelonians Brit. Mus., 1889, p. 171; Baur, 

 Am. Nat., XXIII, 1889 [1890] p. 1041, 1044 (part) ; Gadow, Cambridge 

 Nat. Hist., VIII, 1901, p. 378; Heller, Proc. Washington Acad. Sci., V. 

 1903 p 59; Beck, Seventh Report N. Y. Zool. Soc, 1903, p. 17; SiEbEn- 

 ROCK, Zool. Jahrb., Suppl. X, 3, 1909, p. 535. 



Type specimens. — British Museum. Three adult males. 

 Straight length 38, 34, and 38^ inches. Taken on Abing- 

 don Island, by Commander Cookson, in 1875. 



Distribution. — This species seems to be confined to the 

 moist district near the southern end of Abingdon Island. 



Material. — The Academy has complete skins of three adult 

 males and a nearly complete bony shell of a fourth. There 

 is a skeleton in the U. S. National Museum. The British 

 Museum contains the types, and the Tring Museum has one 

 adult male and one young example. So far as I can learn, 

 no female has ever been collected. 



Diagnosis. — No nuchal; gulars paired; fourth cervical ver- 

 tebra biconvex; front of carapace high, higher than, or but 

 little lower than, middle; height at nuchal notch more than 

 45% (46 to 50%) of straight length; difference between per- 

 centage of heights at third vertebral and at nuchal notch 

 less than 9 (2 to 5) ; carapace saddle-shaped, very narrow 

 anteriorly, width at margin of junction of second and third 

 marginals not more than 38% (36 to 38%) ; first marginals 

 not greatly enlarged, not much everted, their ventral surfaces 

 not vertical, their most prominent points separated by less 

 than 30% (20 to 26%); length over curve not more than 

 123% (115 to 119%); greater than width over curve; verti- 

 cal distance from lower surface of plastron to lower edge of 

 lateral marginals great, 8 to 10% ; general size large, straight 

 length 29.3 to 36 inches; plastron long, median length 81 to 

 82%; plates generally smooth; pectorals forming a suture on 

 median line; eighth marginal plate wedge-shaped with very 

 short superior border; lower jaw and throat of male marked 

 with yellow. 



