— 107 — 



" Notes sur la Eeunion " by M. Maillard. It is an abridge- 

 ment of its histoiy, topography and natural history as com- 

 plete as possible. 



" It is true that the whole was not accomplished at Eeu- 

 nion. It was necessary' as will be the case with ourselves, 

 to have recourse, to assistance from Paris which was unspar- 

 ingly given— each of the assistants in his own speciallity. 



" Yet, there are to be found at Eeunion Island naturalists 

 and scientific men of great merit, whose names I could men- 

 tion. They probably kept on the back ground, through 

 excess of modesty, and also not having at hand, as in the 

 Paris Museum, a sufficient number of specimens for compari- 

 son, and competent works of reference. 



" Perhaps, I may be permitted, Your Excellency and gentle- 

 men, to call your attention to the means which are at our 

 disposal for the undertaking of the work projected by 

 Mr. Bruce : 



" 1. Conchology, comprising a very large number of species, 

 has been studied by Dr. Eegnaud, and Messrs. Eobillard, 

 Caldwell ar,d Bewsher, and almost all the specimens in the 

 Museum have been classed and named. 



" 2. The Ornithology of Mauritius is very limited, and we 

 all know that the Hon, Mr. Newton has studied it Ions: affo. 

 There are few mammals in Mauritius and they are all known. 



" 3. G-reat many fishes have been described by Messrs. 

 Lienard and Desjardins, and the descriptions exist, in manus- 

 cripts or were published either in the Transactions of our 

 Society or in the work of Cuvier and Valenciennes : " Histoire 

 Naturelle des Poissons." 



" 4. Eeptiles are in small number ; specimens of G-ecko 

 and Scincus sent by the late J. Desjardins are to be found in 

 the Museum of Paris. The Ophidians from Eound and Plat Is- 

 lands are, at least some of them, very little known. That 

 may be easily agcerfcaioed by forwarding specimens to the 

 British Museum, 



" 5. Many species of our Crustaceas have been named by 

 M. Alp. Milne Edwards at Paris. 



*• 6. As for the Arachnids, the work published by our 



