210 A COLLECTOR'S EXPERIENCES 



tives of an age that has long passed. The islands 

 whence these creatures came are supposed to be one 

 of the rare portions of this earth left undisturbed 

 when, thousands upon thousands of years ago, terrific 

 volcanic disturbances shook the globe, and the seas 

 rushed over whole continents while others were born 

 above the waters. 



These five representatives of the age of reptiles 

 are giant tortoises from the Galapagos Islands. Of 

 the times when scaled and plated forms of gigantic 

 proportions — forms like the visions seen in troubled 

 dreams — stalked in abundance through an atmosphere 

 of humidity and heat in forests of equally gigantic 

 foliage, these great tortoises are the sole survivors. 

 Weighing three hundred and fifty pounds, the largest 

 specimen to arrive at the 'New York reptile house 

 makes an ordinary land tortoise appear in about the 

 same proportion as a musket-ball to the huge round 

 shot of an old-time cannon. 



The largest specimen of the five which arrived 

 at the Zoological Park was appropriately named 

 " Buster." After due comparison with the few other 

 specimens in captivity, and records of the same, it 

 was decided that Buster was about three hundred and 

 seventy years old. During all this time he had slow- 

 ly shufiled about the sterile soil of a volcanic island, 

 devouring cactus leaves, and growing slowly — very 

 slowly, probably an inch or so every five years ; then 

 he stopped growing, and his great shell began to wear 

 against the rocks. It is estimated that this wearing 

 must have taken a couple of centuries, as these crea- 



