PAPERS READ. 



EOUGH NOTES ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE 

 CLAREMONT ISLANDS. 



By Gervase F. Mathew, R.N., F.L.S., F.Z.S., F.R.G.S., &c. 



At three o'clock on the afternoon of the 12th of last month, 

 "H.M.S. Espiegle" anchored off No. 5 (on the Admiralty Chart) 

 of a group of small islands, called the Claremont Islands, lying 

 inside the Great Barrier Reef, between ("!ooktown and Cape Yoi'k, 

 and in latitude 13-42 south. The group consists of eight 

 principal islands, with a few islets, No. 1 being the farthest to the 

 south in latitude 13 57 south, and just off Point Claremont, 

 while No. 8, the farthest north, is in latitude 13 "16 south, so that 

 they extend for some 41 miles from north to south. They are low 

 flat islands, moi'e or less covered with scrubby brushwood, and 

 with a few trees in the centre, and some of them are fringed with 

 a belt of mangrove bushes. At the time of our visit these 

 islands were looking beautifully green. 



No. 5 having no name we will call " Espiegle " Island. It is 

 one of the smallest of the group, being little more than one and a 

 half or two miles in circumstance, and is covered with high grass, 

 with patches of low bushes and a few trees at one corner of it. 

 A sloping sandy beach runs round the greater part of it, and at 

 low tide a large tract of coral flats and reefs, extending for several 

 miles on each side of the islands is uncovered, and afiords fine 

 feeding grounds for numerous species of shore birds. 



Soon after the ship anchored I landed in company with one of 

 my messmates — Lieutenant Allenby — to explore the island and 



