F»ROCEEDINQS 



OF THE 



CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Fourth Series 



Vol. I, pp. 1-6. December 20, 1907. 



EXPEDITION OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF 



SCIENCES TO THE GALAPAGOS 



ISLANDS, 1905-1906. 



I. 



PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTIONS OF FOUR NEW RACES 



OF GIGANTIC LAND TORTOISES FROM 



THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS. 



BY JOHN VAN DENBURGH, 

 Curator of the Department of Herpetology. 



Early in 1905 the California Academy of Sciences decided 

 to send an expedition to the Galapagos Islands. The general 

 purpose was to explore this group more thoroughly than the 

 opportunities of previous investigators had permitted, and to 

 secure large collections of the plants, mollusks, insects, birds, 

 mammals, and reptiles in the hope of throwing more definite 

 light upon the origin of the archipelago. Particularly, it was 

 determined to study the geology of the islands, to make a 

 very careful search for fossils, and to spare no effort to secure 

 specimens or remains of those laces of the gigantic land 

 tortoises which long had been thought extinct. 



Study ot aie published results of previous expeditions had 

 convinced me not only that these islands must all, at some 



December 19, 1907. 



