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



for Jervis, and anchored at the north side of the island at 5 

 p. M. We are doubtful if more than two or three tortoises 

 are left on Duncan Island, because our party covered practi- 

 cally all the part of the island where they would be found. 



"Sept. 24. — Went ashore on Jervis Island. Fine beach, with 

 a little lagoon right behind it, around the edge of which we 

 found tracks of a tortoise, but were unable to find it after 

 thoroughly searching the island. There is more soil on this 

 island than on any visited thus far. We secured about 115 

 birds in all." 



In the fall of 1898, the Department of Zoology of Stanford 

 University sent to these islands two collectors, Mr. Robert E. 

 Snodgrass and Mr. Edmund Heller. Sailing on the sealing 

 schooner "Julia E. Whalen," they were given an opportunity 

 to collect on every island of the group. Their visit extended 

 from December 10, 1898, to June 26, 1899. Some twelve hun- 

 dred reptiles were collected. Tortoises were found only on 

 Duncan Island and at Tagus and Iguana Coves, Albemarle 

 Island. Heller thought them extinct on all the other islands 

 except Abingdon. He gives the following account of the 

 habits, based on observation of the three species collected, viz., 

 Testiido microphyes, T. vicina and T. ephippium: 



"Their food consists of various species of grasses and cactus 

 (Opuntia). During the rainy season, and in the moist portions 

 of the islands the year round, grass forms their chief food, 

 especially a large, woody-stemmed, perennial species. During 

 the dry season in the arid portions of the islands, as at Tagus 

 Cove, Albemarle, and on Duncan Island, the Opuntia becomes 

 quite an important food plant. The green succulent leaf-like 

 stems of this cactus and its fruit, the prickly pear, are eagerly 

 devoured by the tortoises, regardless of the sharp spines with 

 which they are armed. One specimen collected near Tagus 

 Cove had the whole palate and pharynx bristling with the 

 cactus spines, from which there was apparently no suffering. 

 The juicy cactus stems supply the tortoises with the necessary 

 water in the dry regions where springs are absent, and thus 

 make possible its existence in such localities. Cactus seems to 

 be preferred, when it can be easily secured; all the tortoises 

 we took on board the schooner would take no other kind of 

 food except when compelled by hunger. The Opuntia are tree- 



