376 REPTILES.. [chap. xvii. 



Two of the waders are rather smaller than the same 

 species brout^ht from other places ; the swallow is also 

 smaller, though it is doubtful whether or not it is distinct 

 from its analogue. The two owls, the two tyrant fly- 

 catchers {Pryocephalus), and the dove, are also smaller than 

 the analogous but distinct species, to which they are most 

 nearly related ; on the other hand, the gull is rather larger. 

 The two owls, the swallow, all three species of mocking- 

 thrush, the dove in its separate colours, though not in its 

 whole plumage, the Totanus, and the gull, are likewise 

 duskier coloured than their analogous species ; and in the 

 case of the mocking-thrush, and Totanus, than any other 

 species of the two genera. With the exception of a wren 

 with a fine yellow breast, and of a tyrant fly-catcher with 

 a scarlet tuft and breast, none of the birds are brilliantl}' 

 coloured, as might have been expected in an equatorial 

 district. Hence it would appear probable, that the same 

 causes which here make the immigrants of some species 

 smaller, make most of the peculiar Galapageian species 

 also smaller, as well as very generally more dusky coloured. 

 All the plants have a wretched, weedy appearance, and I did 

 not see one beautiful flower. The insects, again, are small 

 sized and dull coloured, and, as Mr. Waterhouse informs me, 

 there is nothing in their general appearance which would 

 have led him to imagine that they had come from, under 

 the equator. The birds, plants, and insects have a desert 

 character, and are not more brilliantly coloured than those 

 from southern Patagonia ; we may, therefore, conclude that 

 the usual gaudy colouring of the intertropical productions, 

 is not related either to the heat or light of those zones, but 

 to some other cause, perhaps to the conditions of existence 

 being generally favourable to life. 



We will now turn to the order of reptiles, which g'ives the 

 most striking character to the zoology of these islands. The 

 species are not numerous, but the numbers of individuals of 

 each species are extraordinarily great. There is one small 

 lizard belonging to a South American genus, and two species 

 (and probably more) of the AmblyrhyncJiiis—^. genus con- 

 fined to the Galapagos Islands. There is one snake which 

 is numerous ; it is identical, as 1 am informed by M. Bibron, 

 with the Psainmophis Temviinchii from Chile. Of sea-turtle 

 I believe there is more than one species ; and of tortoises 

 there are, as w^e shall presently show, two or three species 



