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CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Proc. 4th See. 



higher portions look like good tortoise country, and are more 

 open than below. No signs of tortoises were encountered, 

 however, and no bones were found. Everything is very green, 

 and the ground had been thoroughly soaked by recent rains. 

 We expect to sail for Stephens Bay in the morning. 



Feb. 10, 1906. — Went ashore at Sappho Cove and worked 

 inland. The country is a plateau of recent lava, covered spar- 

 ingly with cactus and fairly well with trees. Beck worked in 

 the same general direction and had the great fortune to run 

 on to a tortoise. It was eating cactus (Opuntia) when found. 

 The right fore-leg was missing, and it seems hard to tell 

 whether this was natural or the result of an accident. The 

 ovaries contained eggs in yolk form. The locality where this 

 tortoise was found was about four miles inland from Sappho 

 Cove, and at about 300 feet elevation. 



Feb. 12-14, 1906. — Went into the interior with Beck to 

 search for tortoises. We worked for two days and a half 

 around the central portion of the island without finding the 

 least sign of a living tortoise. The entire country is rough 

 lava overgrown with brush and trees. Cactus is fairly abun- 

 dant. Cereus is the most common, while Opuntia is fairly 

 common. Tortoises are likely to be found around the Opuntia 

 if any are present, for the flat leaves often fall to the ground, 

 and the spines are not so tough as those of the Cereus. We 

 went to the top of a small hill and took the following bear- 

 ings for the position of the living tortoise taken on February 

 10th: Mt. Pitt bore N. E. >4 N. ; Finger Point bore N. W. 

 by W. Kicker Rock bore W. by N. ; top of island bore S. W. 

 ^ S. ; East Rock bore S. E. by E. The tortoise lay about 

 three miles due west of this position. We had the good for- 

 tune to run across a large cave containing the remains of about 

 seventeen tortoises. We made our headquarters in this cave, 

 and looked over all the remains, collecting the best specimens. 

 I made measurements in all possible cases of those we could 

 not take. 



1. — Collected a good set of bones, marked O. [C. A. S. No. 

 8128]. The carapace was far gone and not worth taking, 

 inasmuch as we got good specimens. The plastron was intact. 

 It was sunken like a male tortoise, and the indentation was 

 very prominent with a ridge on the back part, as in the male 



