ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
BULLETIN 
Published by the New York Zoological Society 
Volume XXVI SEPTEMBER, 1923 Number 5 
GALAPAGOS REPTILES AND BIRDS IN THE 
ZOOLOGICAL PARK * 
By William Beebe. 
Photographs by William Beebe atul John Tee-Van 
A S a result of the Harrison Williams 
Galapagos Expedition seventy-seven liv¬ 
ing creatures were added to the collec¬ 
tions of the New York Zoological Park. Two- 
thirds of these were captured in the Galapagos 
Islands, the remainder being caught or 
purchased at Panama or Colon. These his¬ 
toric islands are to-day in the age of reptiles, 
dominated from coast to mountain-top by 
lizards or tortoises as the most conspicuous 
and largest forms of life. But their reign is 
passing swiftly, and soon the islands will be 
almost as barren of reptile life as when their 
volcanic peaks first pushed up above the sur¬ 
face of the Pacific Ocean. With the exception 
of the tiny geckos which I found resting 
under bits of loose lava, I succeeded in bring¬ 
ing back living representatives of all the lizard 
groups. 
Scarlet and black appeared to be the two 
outstanding colors of the fauna, and charac¬ 
terized the abundant Tropidurus lizards which 
scurried over the sand and lava, often run¬ 
ning across our shoes or mounting to a point 
of vantage on the shoulders of some of their 
gigantic saurian relatives. The background 
color of their bodies is black and grey, with 
flaming scarlet on the heads and sides of the 
female. They are absurdly tame and investi¬ 
gated all our tents and luggage. When pursued 
they would stop and go through a great show 
of intimidation, nodding their heads up and 
down and expanding the throat pouch to its 
"Department of Tropical Research, Contribution No. 145. 
fullest. They accepted confinement at once, 
spent the day catching flies or taking them 
from our fingers, and at night burrowed deeply 
beneath the sand. 
These small active lizards, which were from 
four to eight inches in length, I found common 
on all the islands which I visited except Tower. 
Other explorers met them on all except the 
three northernmost islands, and have described 
seven well-marked species. The chief problem 
offered by this archipelago is whether it has 
always consisted of isolated volcanic islands 
and islets or whether at one time it was a 
single large land mass more or less closely 
connected with the Central American mainland. 
Every fact and factor which Prof. Wheeler 
and I were able to investigate pointed un¬ 
questionably to the latter theory. Ten years 
ago Van Denburgh, in his study of these 
lizards, was led to the definite conclusion, that 
“there formerly was a single large island in¬ 
habited by one species of Tropidurus; that 
through gradual and partial submersion this 
island became divided into the many islands 
of the present archipelago; that each island, 
after its separation, was occupied by those 
animals which inhabited it before; and that 
the present fauna of each island is directly 
descended from its original inhabitants.” 
As to the possibility of original and of re¬ 
distribution of these lizards, twice I found 
Tropidurus which had crept into our rowboats 
on the beach, one of which escaped as we 
pushed off, and the second was on board when 
we reached the yacht. Again three of these 
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