Few of the birds were of brilliant coloration. The same was true of the plants and insects. Darwin looked in vain for one brilliant flower. This was in marked contrast to the fauna and flora of the South American tropics. The coloration of the species suggested comparison with that of the plants and animals of Patagonia. Amid brilliant tropical plants brilliant plumage may afford means of concealment, as well as being a factor in the securing of mates.
Darwin found the reptiles the most striking feature of the zoölogy of the islands. They seem to take the place of the herbivorous mammalia. The huge tortoise (_Testudo nigra_) native in the archipelago is so heavy as to be lifted only by six or eight men. (The young naturalist frequently got on the back of a tortoise, but as it moved forward under his encouragement, he found it very difficult to keep his balance.) Different varieties, if not species, characterize the different islands. Of the other reptilia should be noted two species of lizard of a genus (_Amblyrhynchus_) confined to the Galapagos Islands. One, aquatic, a yard long, fifteen pounds in weight, with "limbs and strong claws admirably adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured masses of lava," feeds on seaweed. When frightened it instinctively shuns the water, as though it feared especially its aquatic enemies. The terrestrial species is confined to the central part of the group; it is smaller than the aquatic species, and feeds on cactus, leaves of trees, and berries.
Fifteen new species of sea-fish were obtained, distributed in twelve genera. The archipelago, though not rich in insects, afforded several new genera, each island with its distinct kinds. The flora of the Galapagos Islands proved equally distinctive. More than half of the flowering plants are native, and the species of the different islands show wonderful differences. For example, of seventy-one species found on James Island thirty-eight are confined to the archipelago and thirty to this one island.
In October the Beagle sailed west to Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, Keeling or Cocos Islands, Mauritius, St. Helena, Ascension; arrived at Bahia, Brazil, August 1, 1836; and finally proceeded from Brazil to England. Among his many observations, Darwin noted the peculiar animals of Australia, the kangaroo-rat, and "several of the famous _Ornithorhynchus paradoxus_," or duckbill. On the Keeling or Cocos Islands the chief vegetable production is the cocoanut. Here Darwin observed crabs of monstrous size, with a structure which enabled them to open the cocoanuts. They thus secured their food, and accumulated "surprising quantities of the picked fibres of the cocoanut husk, on which they rest as a bed."