We Will Now Turn To The Order Of Reptiles, Which Gives
The Most Striking Character To The Zoology Of These Islands.
The Species Are Not Numerous, But The Numbers Of Individuals
Of Each Species Are Extraordinarily Great.
There is one
small lizard belonging to a South American genus, and two
species (and probably more) of the Amblyrhynchus - a genus
confined to the Galapagos Islands.
There is one snake which
is numerous; it is identical, as I am informed by M. Bibron,
with the Psammophis Temminckii from Chile. [2] Of sea-
turtle I believe there are more than one species, and of
tortoises there are, as we shall presently show, two or three
species or races. Of toads and frogs there are none: I was
surprised at this, considering how well suited for them the
temperate and damp upper woods appeared to be. It recalled
to my mind the remark made by Bory St. Vincent, [3]
namely, that none of this family are found on any of the
volcanic islands in the great oceans. As far as I can ascertain
from various works, this seems to hold good throughout the
Pacific, and even in the large islands of the Sandwich
archipelago. Mauritius offers an apparent exception, where I
saw the Rana Mascariensis in abundance: this frog is said
now to inhabit the Seychelles, Madagascar, and Bourbon;
but on the other hand, Du Bois, in his voyage in 1669, states
that there were no reptiles in Bourbon except tortoises; and
the Officier du Roi asserts that before 1768 it had been
attempted, without success, to introduce frogs into Mauritius
- I presume for the purpose of eating: hence it may be well
doubted whether this frog is an aboriginal of these islands.
The absence of the frog family in the oceanic islands is the
more remarkable, when contrasted with the case of lizards,
which swarm on most of the smallest islands. May this difference
not be caused, by the greater facility with which the
eggs of lizards, protected by calcareous shells might be
transported through salt-water, than could the slimy spawn
of frogs?
I will first describe the habits of the tortoise (Testudo
nigra, formerly called Indica), which has been so frequently
alluded to. These animals are found, I believe, on all the
islands of the archipelago; certainly on the greater number.
They frequent in preference the high damp parts, but they
likewise live in the lower and arid districts. I have already
shown, from the numbers which have been caught in a single
day, how very numerous they must be. Some grow to an
immense size: Mr. Lawson, an Englishman, and vice-governor
of the colony, told us that he had seen several so large,
that it required six or eight men to lift them from the
ground; and that some had afforded as much as two hundred
pounds of meat. The old males are the largest, the females
rarely growing to so great a size: the male can readily be
distinguished from the female by the greater length of its
tail.
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