| Platydactylus cepedianus. " ocellatus. Hemidactylus peronii. " mutilatus. | Hemidactylus frenatus. Gongylus bojerii. Ablepharus peronii. |
Four species of chameleon are now recorded from Bourbon and one from Mauritius (J. Reay Greene, M.D., in Pop. Science Rev. April, 1880), but as they are not mentioned by the old writers, it is pretty certain that these creatures are recent introductions, and this is the more probable as they are favourite domestic pets.
Darwin informed me that in a work entitled Voyage à l'Isle de France, par un Officier du Roi, published in 1770, it is stated that a fresh-water fish had been introduced from Batavia and had multiplied. The writer also says (p. 170): "On a essayé, mais sans succcès, d'y transporter des grenouilles qui mangent les œufs que les moustigues deposent sur les eaux stagnantes." It thus appears that there were then no frogs on the island.
[162] That the dodo is really an abortion from a more perfect type, and not a direct development from some lower form of wingless bird, is shown by its possessing a keeled sternum, though the keel is exceedingly reduced, being only three-quarters of an inch deep in a length of seven inches. The most terrestrial pigeon—the Didunculus of the Samoan Islands, has a far deeper and better developed keel, showing that in the case of the dodo the degradation has been extreme. We have also analogous examples in other extinct birds of the same group of islands, such as the flightless Rails—Aphanapteryx of Mauritius and Erythromachus of Rodriguez, as well as the large parrot—Lophopsittacus of Mauritius, and the Night Heron, Nycticorax megacephala of Rodriguez, the last two birds probably having been able to fly a little. The commencement of the same process is to be seen in the peculiar dove of the Seychelles, Turtur rostratus, which, as Mr. Edward Newton has shown, has much shorter wings than its close ally, T. picturatus, of Madagascar. For a full and interesting account of these and other recently extinct birds see Professor Newton's article on "Fossil Birds" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, ninth edition, vol. iii., p. 732; and that on "The Extinct Birds of Rodriguez," by Dr. A. Günther and Mr. E. Newton, in the Royal Society's volume on the Transit of Venus Expedition.
[163] See Ibis, 1877, p. 334.
[164] A common Indian and Malayan toad (Bufo melanostictus) has been introduced into Mauritius and also some European toads, as I am informed by Dr. Günther.
[165] This brief account of the Madagascar flora has been taken from a very interesting paper by the Rev. Richard Baron, F.L.S., F.G.S., in the Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. XXV., p. 246; where much information is given on the distribution of the flora within the island.
[166] It may be interesting to botanists and to students of geographical distribution to give here an enumeration of the endemic genera of the Flora of the Mauritius and the Seychelles, as they are nowhere separately tabulated in that work.
| Aphloia (Bixaceæ) | 1 sp., a shrub, Maur., Rod., Sey., also Madagascar. |
| Medusagyne (Ternströmiaceæ) | 1 sp., a shrub, Seychelles. |
| Astiria (Sterculiaceæ) | 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius. |
| Quivisia (Meliaceæ) | 3 sp., shrubs, Mauritius (2 sp.), Rodriguez (1 sp.), also Bourbon. |
| Cossignya (Sapindaceæ) | 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius, also Bourbon. |
| Hornea ,, | 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius. |
| Stadtmannia ,, | 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius. |
| Doratoxylon ,, | 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius and Bourbon. |
| Gagnebina (Leguminosæ) | 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius, also Madagascar. |
| Roussea (Saxifragaceæ) | 1 sp., a climbing shrub, Mauritius and Bourbon. |
| Tetrataxis (Lythraceæ) | 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius. |
| Psiloxylon ,, | 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius and Bourbon. |
| Mathurina (Turneraceæ) | 1 sp., a shrub, Rodriguez. |
| Fœtidia (Myrtaceæ) | 1 sp., a tree, Mauritius. |
| Danais (Rubiaceæ) | 4 sp., climbing shrubs, Maur. (1 sp.), Rodr. (1 sp.), also Bourbon and Madagascar. |
| Fernelia (Rubiaceæ) | 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius and Rodriguez. |
| Pyrostria ,, | 6 sp., shrubs, Mauritius (3 sp.), also Bourbon and Madagascar. |
| Scyphochlamys (Rubiaceæ) | 1 sp., a shrub, Rodriguez. |
| Myonima ,, | 3 sp., shrubs, Mauritius, also Bourbon. |
| Cylindrocline (Compositæ) | 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius. |
| Monarrhenus ,, | 2 sp., shrubs, Mauritius, also Bourbon and Madagascar. |
| Faujasia (Compositæ) | 3 sp., shrubs, Mauritius, also Bourbon and Madagascar. |
| Heterochænia (Campanulaceæ) | 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius, also Bourbon. |
| Tanulepis (Asclepiadaceæ) | 1 sp., a climber, Rodriguez. |
| Decanema ,, | 1 sp., a climber, Mauritius, also Madagascar. |
| Nicodemia (Loganiaceæ) | 2 sp., shrubs, Mauritius (1 sp.), also Comoro Islands and Madagascar. |
| Bryodes (Scrophulariaceæ) | 1 sp., herb, Mauritius. |
| Radamæa ,, | 2 sp., herb, Seychelles (1 sp.), and Madagascar. |
| Colea (Bignoniaceæ) | 10 sp., Mauritius (1 sp.), Seychelles (1 sp.), also Bourbon and Madagascar. (Shrubs, trees, or climbers.) |
| Obetia (Urticaceæ) | 2 sp., shrubs, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Madagascar. |
| Bosquiea (Moreæ) | 3 sp., trees, Seychelles (1 sp.), also Madagascar. |
| Monimia (Monimiaceæ) | 3 sp., trees, Mauritius (2 sp.), also Bourbon. |
| Cynorchis (Orchideæ) | 3 sp., herb, ter., Mauritius. |
| Amphorchis ,, | 1 sp., herb, ter., Mauritius, also Bourbon. |
| Arnottia ,, | 2 sp., herb, ter., Mauritius, also Bourbon. |
| Aplostellis ,, | 1 sp., herb, ter., Mauritius. |
| Cryptopus ,, | 1 sp., herb, Epiphyte, Mauritius, also Bourbon and Madagascar. |
| Lomatophyllum (Liliaceæ) | 3 sp., shrubs (succulent), Mauritius, also Bourbon. |
| Lodoicea (Palmæ) | 1 sp., tree, Seychelles. |
| Latania ,, | 3 sp., trees, Mauritius (2 sp.), Rodriguez, also Bourbon. |
| Hyophorbe ,, | 3 sp., trees, Mauritius (2 sp.), Rodriguez, also Bourbon. |
| Dictyosperma ,, | 1 sp., tree, Mauritius, Rodriguez, also Bourbon. |
| Acanthophænix ,, | 2 sp., trees, Mauritius, also Bourbon. |
| Deckenia ,, | 1 sp., tree, Seychelles. |
| Nephrosperma ,, | 1 sp., tree, Seychelles. |
| Roscheria ,, | 1 sp., tree, Seychelles. |
| Verschaffeltia ,, | 1 sp., tree, Seychelles. |
| Stevensonia ,, | 1 sp., tree, Seychelles. |
| Ochropteris (Filices) | 1 sp., herb, Mauritius, also Bourbon and Madagascar. |
Among the curious features in this list are the great number of endemic shrubs in Mauritius, and the remarkable assemblage of five endemic genera of palms in the Seychelles Islands. We may also notice that one palm (Latania loddigesii) is confined to Round Island and two other adjacent islets offering a singular analogy to the peculiar snake also found there.