70 
THE EACES OE THE GALAPAGOS. 
The materials available for the description of this species are the following : — 
1. A carapace without sternum of a very large example, 41 inches in a straight line; 
it was purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum from the Manager of the former 
Surrey Zoological Gardens, who could not give any information as regards its history 
(Plate XXX. fig. B). 
2. A carapace 22 inches long*; type of Testudo nigrita (D. & B.) ; property of the 
Royal College of Surgeons ; history and sex unknown. I am indebted to Prof. Flower, 
F.R.S., for the loan of this specimen (Plate XXXI. fig. C). 
3. Two perfect skeletons, with epidermoid plates, of young examples, the carapaces 
being lb\ and 16 inches long. History and sex unknown. 
4. A very young example, stuflfed ; carapace 8^ inches long. This specimen was 
purchased of a collector coming from Chile, and therefore without doubt came 
originally from the Galapagos Islands. A figure of it, somewhat reduced in size, has 
been given by Dr. Gray, under the name of T. elejjhantopus, in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, 
p. 708, pi. 4 If. 
5. A very young example, stuffed ; carapace 10 inches long. IHstory and sex un- 
known. Received from the Haslar Collection. 
6. A skull of a very large example, described and figured by Dr. Gray as T. plani- 
cejys (1. c). 
The carcqjace of this species is well characterized by its broad, circular shape, great 
depth, and more especially by the numerous, deeply cut concentric striae, by which the 
areolae are much reduced in size in immature examples, and which are persistent in 
considerable number even in specimens of the largest size. Our largest example 
(specimen No. 1, Plate XXX. fig. B) is a carapace 41 inches long, unfortunately without 
the sternum. Nevertheless we can safely affirm that this individual was a male, as 
the females never attain to so large a size. It is only 8 inches longer than broad ; and 
when measured over the curvature its transverse circumference even exceeds the longi- 
tudinal. The areolar portions of the dorsal and marginal plates are perfectly smooth 
and raised above the general outline of the shell, especially those of the former ; but 
each plate has a broad margin deeply sculptured with concentric and parallel striae, the 
outer striated margin of the marginal plates being even broader than the smooth areolar 
portion. The first dorsal scute and the anterior half of the second are declivous, the 
declivity of the former being still steeper than that of the latter. 
A deep notch, nearly as deep as that between the two foremost marginal plates, exists 
between the first and second marginals ; also the posterior margin of the shell is 
scalloped. The length of the caudal plate is to its width as 11:14 (5^ inches long and 
7 inches wide) ; its surface is plane ; that is, its posterior margin is not bent either 
* BiBHON gives 365 millims. as the length of this example, which is evidently a misprint for 565. 
t An example of about the same age is rather indifferently figured in Sowerby and Lear's ' Tortoises, Turtles, 
and Terrapins,' where it is named Testudo iiidica. 
