1892.] D. Pram — Fauna of Narcondam and Barren Island. 115 



eggs of the turtle form one of the staple foods of the Hydrosaurns, to 

 the omnivorus propensities of which the writer has already had occasion 

 to allnde.t In Barren Island none of these lizards were seen but it is 

 not at all improbable that they are present, for there are two small bays 

 at the south-west corner where there are sandy beaches with a Pandanus 

 fence and some Coco-nut trees behind. Owing to the strong swell and 

 heavy surf tho writer was unable to land at either of these places, nor 

 did lie succeed in crossing the outer cone at a point whence he could reach 

 them from the interior. It is, however, not at all unlikely that turtles 

 visit these sandy patches and, if so, there is no doubt that, if Hydro- 

 saurus exists on the island, he will be in evidence there. 



Crustaceans : — Besides hermit-crabs, which are very plentiful, there 

 are, at least on Barren Island, land-crabs.* And, as might be sur- 

 mised, Grapsus is plentiful on the rocks along the coast and is a source 

 of interest to the Blue Reef-Heron and some of the other sea-fowl. 



Other Air-Breathing Creatures : — The writer did not see a single 

 beetle on Barren Island, but perhaps the season of his visit (March — 

 April) had something to do with their absence. One or two were met 

 with on Narcondam — the specimens obtained including, amongst others, 

 a Golden-Beetle. 



Spiders are common on both islands, particularly on Narcondam, 

 where also a scorpion is to be found. It was, however, only seen once, 

 when digging up an Amurphophallus tuber, and was not preserved. J 



Ants are very common, the two chief kinds being the common red 

 mango-ant, or a species very like it, both physically and physiologically; 

 and a very small species that makes long powdery tunnels along the 

 outside of, and sometimes also makes its home inside, the stems and 

 branches of various shrubs, e. g., it is common to find it inside living 

 branches of a species of Leea and of two species of Ficus (F. brevicusjpis 

 and F. hispida var. daemonum. 



Among insects, besides a sand-fly and a mosquito, whose pres- 

 ence goes without saying, there is a very striking form, only 

 noticed however in Barren Island, in the shape of a small hornet which 

 builds sometimes a discoid nest composed of single cells, mouth down- 

 wards, in juxtaposition, and sometimes a long narrow nest of single 



* Joum. As. Soc. Beng. vol. Ix, pt. 2, p. 402, [footnote]. 



f Land-crabs were not observed either on Narcondam or on Barren Island, but 

 Mr. Wood Mason has very kindly shown the writer specimens of a land-crab that 

 are preserved in the Indian Museum ; those were obtained in Barren Island by Mr. 

 Oldham. 



X The writer's native collector promptly treated it as vermin, and ere a protest 

 could be uttered had crushed it between two stones. 



