lector stated that the large tortoises had
been found in only one bolson in Coahuila.

Mr. Bogert further related that, in 1946 when he was camped at Las
Delicias, Coahuila, a Mexican mule herder told him of seeing a
large tortoise "three bolsons north" of the bolson in which Las
Delicias is located (the general area referred to would be near
Americanos). The man awoke one morning to find his saddle missing;
following tracks from the place where the saddle had been left, the
man eventually found it on the back of a large tortoise. The
tortoise had apparently sought shelter beneath the saddle and,
finding it unsatisfactory, had walked away with the saddle on his
back.

Either of the incidents related above, or the reference of Duges
(_loc. cit._) to large size, since they are based on second or
third-hand accounts, would seem to be unrealistic and of little
scientific value when considered alone and at face value. However,
in the light of the discovery of _Gopherus flavomarginatus_, these
accounts have new meaning and tend to support my proposal that the
species is the largest tortoise in North America.

_Remarks._--The paratypes at the University of Illinois were found
in a trash-dump in Carrillo. According to what the collectors
learned from local inhabitants, the species is used for food and
the shells are sometimes used for poultry dishes or even for eating
utensils. Although the species is found on the flat, sandy desert
near Carrillo, it is more common on the nearby mountain slopes and
is seen there most frequently after rains. Dickerman (field notes,
1954) likewise noted that the species was eaten near Americanos;
the K.U. paratype represents the best (and only specimen saved) of
several broken shells found in that area. Judging by the habits of
other members of the genus and by the notes of Duges (1888:147),
_G. flavomarginatus_ is probably herbivorous.

_Acknowledgments._--A portion of this study was completed in the
summer of 1958, while I was an internee at the United States
National Museum. I am grateful to Dr. Doris M. Cochran of that
institution for helpful information regarding the origin of the
type and for permission to study other specimens in her care.
Thanks are due also to Messrs. Pete S. Chrapliwy and Kenneth L.
Williams who collected two of the para