322 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Peoc. 4th Ser. 



Beck and King went farther up to camp. When I went in to 

 the camp the next day, Beck had found two large male tor- 

 toises about five miles up the valley, and in better, or very good, 

 tortoise country. We found plenty of earth and cactus here 

 and everything in favor of finding tortoises. King had one of 

 the males partly skinned, so I helped him finish it, and we 

 brought it out to camp. Beck went over toward the main 

 mountain, and covered lots of country, finding two more males 

 and a female. He went over the next day and skinned the 

 female and another small one which he found on the way, and, 

 with the assistance of Ochsner and Hunter, who came in to 

 help us carry, brought them to the camp. King and I took 

 the first male, which we had skinned, part way down to the 

 vessel. The country was so rough and hard to get over that 

 our shoulders became so sore that we could not hold the tor- 

 toise up any longer, so had to leave him in order to get to the 

 beach by dark. The rest of the party, who were to help us 

 out, missed us on the way, so King and I had to go it alone. 

 They found the tortoise on the trail and, carrying it the rest 

 of the way, reached the beach just at dusk. These tortoises 

 have the heaviest shells and bones of any taken by us. The old 

 males were not black (as Porter described them) but the fe- 

 males seem to be quite black. They are all very fat, more so 

 than any we have seen yet. The fat is of a rich yellow color 

 and looks almost like butter. The two males taken are some- 

 what unlike in shape. The other two males Beck found are 

 far over toward Jervis Island, and it will be impossible for 

 us to get them out. It was very difficult to get out the ones 

 we did. No wonder people don't find tortoises on James ! 

 King got the measurements as well as possible, but it is im- 

 possible to get accurate measurements for the reason that a 

 tortoise can throw a person in any direction he pleases with 

 one of his legs. I got the measurements of the second male. 

 Beck skinned the females and no measurements were taken. 

 Beck found that these females contained large yolks, but there 

 were no signs of shell on any of the eggs as yet. We saw no 

 signs of any nests, so probably the breeding season commenced 

 during June and July. 



August 6, 1906. — Sailed for James Bay, and straightened 

 up things on board. Sailing along the coast, we soon lost sight 

 of the barren lava-flows, and everything appeared thickly 



