2 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Proc. 4th Ser. 



former period, have been parts of a single land-mass, becom- 

 ing later, by partial submersion, separated into the various 

 islands, but that Albemarle Island, which possesses several 

 races of tortoises and on which Heller and Snodgrass found 

 evidence of an elevation amounting to several hundred feet*- 

 had much more recently been formed by the union of several 

 smaller islands corresponding, probably, to its five great vol- 

 canoes. Accordingly, the members of the expedition were 

 instructed to collect on Albemarle exactly as though it still 

 were five islands. 



The expedition set sail from San Francisco, on the twenty- 

 eighth of June, 1905, in the schooner "Academy," which 

 had been purchased and rechristened for the purpose. The 

 scientific staff of the expedition consisted of eight young men. 

 Mr. R. H. Beck, who has had more experience in these 

 islands than any other collector, this being his fourth expe- 

 dition to them, was in charge. Mr. Alban Stewart went as 

 botanist; Mr. W. H. Ochsner, as geologist; Mr. F. X. Will- 

 iams, as entomologist; while Mr. E. W. Gifford and Mr. 

 J. S. Hunter were to study and collect the birds, and my 

 assistant Mr. J. R. Slevin, with the aid of Mr. E. S. King, 

 was to care for the reptiles. 



Having made brief stops at various islands near the coast 

 of Lower California, as well as at San Benedicto, Socorro, 

 Clipperton, and Cocos Islands, the party reached the Galapagos 

 Archipelago and landed upon Hood Island, September 24, 

 1905. During the months which followed the most arduous 

 collecting was vigorously carried on in all the islands of the 

 group, many of the larger being visited several times, and 

 on September 25, 1906, after a full year of work, the 

 "Academy" left Culpepper Island and set sail for San Fran- 

 cisco, where she arrived in safety Thanksgiving Day, Novem- 

 ber 29, 1906. 



The collections brought back are by far the largest and most 

 important ever gathered in these islands. The reptiles num- 

 ber over forty-five hundred specimens, of which nearly four 

 thousand are from the Galapagos. The search for land tor- 



