135-1 DISTRIBUTION OF C&GANIC BRINGS. i&J 



probable that the islands of the Cape de Verd group resemble, in all 

 their physical conditions, far more closely the Galapagos Islands than 

 these latter physically resemble the coast of America ; yet the aboriginal 

 inhabitants of the two groups are totally unlike ; those of the Cape de 

 Verd Islands bearing the impress of Africa, as the inhabitants of the 

 Galapagos Archipelago are stamped with that of America. 



I have not as yet noticed by far the most remarkable feature in the 

 natural history of this archipelago ; it is, that the different islands to a 

 considerable extent are inhabited by a different set of beings. My 

 attention was first called to this fact by the Vice-Governor, Mr. Lawson, 

 declaring that the tortoises differed from the different islands, and that 

 he could with certainty tell from which island any one was brought. I 

 did not for some time pay sufficient attention to this statement, and I 

 had already partially mingled together the collections from two of the 

 islands. I never dreamed that islands, about fifty or sixty miles apart, 

 and most of them in sight of each other, formed of precisely the same 

 rocks, placed under a quite similar climate, rising to a nearly equal 

 height, would have been differently tenanted ; but we shall soon see 

 that this is the case. It is the fate of most voyagers, no sooner to 

 discover what is most interesting in any locality, than they are hurried 

 from it ; but I ought, perhaps, to be thankful that I obtained sufficient 

 materials to establish this most remarkable fact in the distribution of 

 organic beings. 



The inhabitants, as I have said, state that they can distinguish thf 

 tortoises from the different islands ; and that they differ not only in size 

 but in other characters. Captain Porter has described * those from 

 Charles and from the nearest island to it, namely, Hood Island, as 

 having their shells in front thick and turned up like a Spanish saddle, 

 whilst the tortoises from James Island are rounder, blacker, and have a 

 better taste when cooked. Mr. Bibron, moreover, informs me that he 

 has seen what he considers two distinct species of tortoise from the 

 Galapagos, but he does not know from which islands. The specimens 

 that I brought from three islands were young ones ; and probably owing 

 to this cause, neither Mr. Gray nor myself could find in them any 

 specific differences. I have remarked that the marine Amblyrhynchus 

 was larger at Albemarle Island than elsewhere ; and M. Bibron informs 

 me that he has seen two distinct aquatic species of this genus ; so that 

 the different islands probably have their representative species or races 

 of the Amblyrhynchus, as well as of the tortoise. My attention was 

 first thoroughly aroused, by comparing together the numerous specimens, 

 shot by myself and several other parties on board, of the mocking- 

 thrushes, when, to my astonishment, I discovered that all those from 

 Charles Island belonged to one species (Mimus trifasciatus) ; all from 

 Albemarle Island to M. parvulus ; and all from James and Chatham 

 Islands (between which two other islands are situated, as connecting 

 links) belonged to M. melanotis. These two latter species are closely 

 allied^ and would by some ornithologists be considered as only well- 

 * "Voyage in the U. S. ship Essex" vol. i., p. 215. 



