Dec. 1894.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBUllGH. 331 



above sea-level, 20th June 1890. Native. Stems i-l| 

 foot long, tufted, spreading. Leaf-blades 1-5 i inches long. 

 Panicle li-O inches long, with a tuft of long white bristles 

 at the base of the branches. Spikelets iV inch long. 

 Flowering glume not ciliated. Pale conspicuously ciliated. 



[Zea Mays, Linn. — Baker, Flor. Maur. Seych., p. 458. 

 Planted near the lime-kiln, 20th June 1890. This species 

 is the common cultivated maize.] 



CLASS III.— CRYPTOGAMIA. 



FiLICES. 



PoLYPODiUM Phymatodes, Linn. — Baker, Flor. Maur. 

 Seych., p. 508. Coralline limestone, 10 feet above sea- 

 level, 1 8 th August 1888. Native. 



PiEPORT ox THE FlOEA OF LeS BeNITIERS, MAURITIUS. 



By Surgeon-Major H. H. Johnston, Army Medical Staff, 

 D.Sc, F.L.S. 



Les Benitiers are two small rocky islets, situated about 

 l mile west of He du Morne, near the south-west corner of 

 Mauritius. The two islets lie north and south of each 

 other, at a distance of about 200 yards apart. Between 

 them and He du Morne the sea is only h fathom deep, and 

 the bottom is formed of coral sand. The outer margin of 

 the shallow coral reef, on which Les Benitiers are situated, 

 lies about f mile farther out to the west of the islets. 



The north islet is the larger of the two. It is 11 yards 

 long and 8 yards broad. It rises to a height of 14 feet 

 above the sandy sea-bottom and 11 feet above sea-level. 

 The edge of the islet is undermined by the sea. The south 

 islet is 6 yards across at the broadest part, and it rises 10 

 feet above the sandy sea-bottom, and 7 feet above sea-level. 



Both islets are formed of solid blocks of coralline lime- 

 stone, which rise abruptly out of the sea. The surface of 

 the rock projects upwards in sharp honeycombed pinnacles, 



