303 



among the rock -pools and feeding there on seaweed. The 

 terrestrial species has no webs on the toes, and is of about the 

 same size as its aquatic relative, reddish brown above and 

 yellow underneath. It inhabits burrows, which occur in such 

 numbers that the soil is constantly giving way as one walks 

 over them, much to the annoyance of the tired traveller, as 

 Mr. Darwin * remarks. Some of the tortoises, according to 

 Darwin, grow to an immense size, yielding as much as two 

 hundred pounds of meat. Like the two lizards they are 

 entirely vegetable feeders. 



When Dr. Giintherf described the reptilian fauna of the 

 islands he distinguished five species of lizards instead of 

 the three mentioned by Darwin. The gigantic tortoises, 

 moreover, he thought, were referable to five distinct forms, 

 every one of them inhabiting a different island. He did not 

 speculate on their origin or past history, but mentioned that, 

 although large land-tortoises are now restricted to the two 

 widely separated regions of the Galapagos islands on the 

 one hand, and the Mascarenes and Seychelles on the other, 

 they formerly had an extensive range. In the Miocene Period 

 they lived in India, southern Europe and in North and South 

 America. We may consequently look upon the few survivors 

 as relicts of Tertiary times. ^ 



More recent researches on the reptiles show that there are 

 far more distinct forms than was anticipated even by Dr. 

 Giinther. Mr. Garman alludes to twenty-two species, among 

 them several geckos. He does not enter into a discussion as 

 to their origin ; he merely states that two theories have been 

 advanced to explain the affinities of the fauna. 



The Hopkins- Stanford Expedition of 1898 made such ex- 

 tensive collections on the islands that many additional forms 

 were discovered among the material sent to the Museum of the 

 Stanford University. Mr. Heller, who describes the reptiles, 

 mentions twenty-five species and several varieties. Nine of 

 these are giant tortoises, fifteen are lizards, and there is one 

 snake. Among the lizards there are six geckos (Geckonidae) 



* Darwin, 0., " Journal of Kesearches," pp. 278284. 



t Giinther, A., " Zoological Collections from Galapagos," p. 66. 



\ Giinther, A., " Gigantic Land-tortoises," p. 253. 



Garman, S., " Reptiles of Galapagos Islands." 



