1916 ] Camp: Amphibians and Reptiles 513 



Mountains twelve miles northeast of the locality mentioned. This 

 specimen was measured on February 23, 1909, and again on May 21, 

 1912. It was thirteen inches in length and had grown scarcely at all 

 during these three years. It differed from the examples taken at Goffs 

 in the color of the iris, which was yellow rather than brown as in the 

 more northern examples. A desert tortoise was found near Victor- 

 ville in April, 1906, and another at Barstow on March 16, 1914. In 

 the Museum are additional specimens (nos. 3550 and 3609) from 

 Kramer, San Bernardino County, and one-half mile east of .Mohave, 

 Kern County, California. A dead tortoise was seen three miles south 

 of Palmdale, Los Angeles County, California, on July 24, 1914. Tor- 

 toises, though widely distributed, appear to be common at few places 

 in the desert. 



Prom what has been published concerning Testudo polyphemus of 

 the southern states, a close relative of the desert tortoise, it appears 

 that the most western North American species and the gopher tortoise 

 of the East do not differ much in their general habits. Both live for 

 the greater part of their lives in holes, both inhabit sandy or other 

 loose soil suitable for the burrowing of their dens, and both dig their 

 own refuges by the crude methods at their command. Like all known 

 members of the genus, both are herbivorous. 



About a mile north of Goffs station a number of desert tortoise 

 burrows were found, some of which were occupied. The holes were 

 dug slantingly into the rather firmly packed sand and gravel, usually 

 at a grade of about forty-five degrees. Often the places chosen were 

 under creosote bushes and in the banks of small dry washes. The 

 tunnels were from two to eight feet long, with a slight widening at 

 the bottom. They varied in diameter with the size of the tortoise that 

 inhabited them, being in every case about the shape of a longitudinal, 

 vertical section of the animal's shell. Sometimes the tortoise could be 

 seen lying at the inner end of its burrow. In the deeper holes a stick 

 thrust in would reveal the presence of the creature which, lying partly 

 outstretched, would draw up its feet and head when it felt the touch ; 

 and this diminution of respiratory space beneath the shell would be 

 accompanied by a noisy expiration like the rapid blowing of a bellows. 

 When seized by the back of the carapace to be drawn out the tortoises 

 would sometimes stick fast in the holes, hooking their crooked front 

 legs into the sand. One deep burrow, otherwise empty, contained the 

 broken halves of two white, hard-shelled eggs which appeared to have 

 been spherical and about an incli in diameter. No brush or food of 



