CH. IV] BIKDS OF THE GALAPAGOS. 19^ 



member of the Iguanidse, a family of lizards just not 

 absolutely confined to the New World. Dr Baur thinks 

 that when the species of Amblyrhynchus come to be 

 examined critically, differences will be found like those 

 between the tortoises of the different islands. There are 

 three geckos on the islands, all belonging to the genus 

 Phyllodactylus, already mentioned. These are P. galapa- 

 goensis, P. leei, and P. tuberculosus ; the last lizard is the 

 only species found on the islands which is not peculiar to 

 them. In addition to these lizards there are two snakes ; 

 they are both very closely allied to South American 

 forms. 



The land birds, according to Mr Salvin's paper upon 

 the subject 1 , are in all 31 species. Of these only one, 

 the Rice bird, is not peculiar to the islands. As Mr 

 Wallace has pointed out there is every possible transition 

 between this case and birds which are so different from 

 any found upon the adjacent mainland that they are not 

 merely of different genera, but of very dubious affinities. 

 The birds belong altogether to fourteen genera, of which 

 four are peculiar to the Galapagos ; these peculiar genera 

 are Certhidea, one of the Sugar birds (Coerebidse), Geospiza, 

 Gactoniis and Camarhynchus, all of them Fringillidae, 

 The birds that are merely of different species are all allied 

 to South American or West Indian forms, or of course to 

 forms which like Strip flammea (the common Barn Owl) 

 are of universal range. 



As with the reptiles certain of the peculiar birds are 

 confined to a single island; the same genus has one 

 1 Trans. Zool. Soc. 1875. 



