SAINT-BRANDON SHOALS. 511 



In a remarkable form of Butttea, found on the shores 

 of this island, the anterior lobe or cephalic disk is entirely 

 destitute of eyes or tentacular appendages; it is thin, 

 broad, flattened, dilated in front, on the same plane as the 

 foot, and continuous on either side with the lateral lobes ; 

 posteriorly where it joins the posterior lobe, it is deeply 

 indented, as in most Buttidce. The lateral lobes, large, 

 extended, and fitted for natation, partially overlap the 

 posterior lobe, are on the same plane with the foot, con- 

 tinuous in front with the indistinct head, and end 

 behind in a broad, truncated border, which is notched in 

 the centre. The posterior lobe which lodges the shell, 

 and contains the viscera, is rounded above, partly enve- 

 loped by the lateral lobes, and slightly notched behind. 



L'ile Saint-Brande, situated to the north-east of Rod- 

 riguez, called the Saint-Brandon Shoals by the English, 

 and Cargados Garajos by the Portuguese, has derived a 

 few cocoa-nut trees from the latter island, which in its turn 

 obtained them from the Mauritius, according to St. 

 Pierre, who relates that when the philosopher Francois 

 Seguat and his unfortunate companions, formed in 1690 

 the first inhabitants of that little island, there were no 

 cocoa-nut trees on their arrival; but as if Providence had 

 invited them to remain there and cultivate it, the use- 

 ful and agreeable present of several germinating cocoa- 

 nuts was thrown ashore by the waves. He observes, 

 moreover, that these two islands although situated in the 

 course of a current, which, during the year, runs alter- 

 nately, six months towards one and six months towards 

 the other, had not communicated all the plants peculiar 

 to each. In the course of time all the small, scattered 



