On abnormal pectoral shields in Testudo ephippium Gthr

In the beginning of this year our herpetological collection was enriched with a specimen of the gigantic landtortoises from the Galapagos-islands. The specimen, a male one, directly struck me by the peculiar arrangement of the pectoral shields, which have a triangular form, and do not meet in the middle of the plastron. On further information as to the exact locality where our tortoise was captured, I learned from Prof. Giglioli, to whom the specimen had formerly belonged, that it was captured by the captain of an Italian merchant-vessel in 1884 on the island of Duncan, together with a similar but smaller male specimen, which was still in the Florence Museum.