300 PICK EL. [Vol. II. 



use this condition to their advantage. They kill a turtle and 

 drink the contents of the bladder." He (Darwin) saw one dead 

 in which the liquid was clear and had a slight brackish taste. 



The following observations on the Galapagos turtles I take 

 from Dr. Baur's article in the American Naturalist (1889) : — 



" Porter, in his general description of the Galapagos tortoises, 

 says : ' They require no provisions or water for a year, nor is 

 any further attention to them necessary than that their shells 

 should be preserved unbroken (p. 214). They carry with them 

 a constant supply of water in a bag at the base of the neck, 

 which contains about two gallons ; and on testing that found 

 in those we killed on board, it proved perfectly fresh and sweet.' 

 In regard to the bag of water. Porter gives another state- 

 ment (p. 100). He partly ascended a hill on Charles Island, 

 and on his way back he found a large tortoise. ' It was opened 

 with the hope of finding some water to allay our thirst. But 

 we were disappointed/ says he, ' in only finding a few gills 

 of a disagreeable-tasted liquid.' The tortoises taken in James 

 Island had in their stomach or reservoir from one to two gal- 

 lons of a ' taste by no means disagreeable.' It seems, therefore, 

 that this ' water reservoir ' is not always filled. Captain Benja- 

 min Morrell, who visited the islands in 1825, says : ' I have had 

 these animals on board my own vessels from five to six months 

 without their once taking food or water ; and on killing them 

 I have found more than a quart of sweet fresh water in the 

 receptacle which nature has furnished them for this purpose ! " 



Townson (17) experimented with Einys eiiropaca by placing 

 the animal in colored water and then in clear water, and saw 

 the colored water returned through the cloaca. He says : 

 " Without doubt this colored water was taken into the ' acces- 

 sory bladders.' " I have made several experiments with Chryse- 

 mis picta similar to that recorded by Townson, but I did not 

 find any indication that the colored water was taken in through 

 the cloaca and then ejected from it. I also made post-mortem 

 examinations of each animal and found no trace of colored 

 water in the " accessory bladders." The fact that Townson 

 used in his experiment turtles of a different genus from the 

 one which I used may explain the difference in our results. 



