of the Island of St. Paul. 355 
main doubtful; the alteration in that time is certainly attested. 
The flames and masses of smoke observed by d’Entrecasteau for 
two whole days in 1792, on the neighbouring island of Amsterdam, 
were repeated before the eyes of the naturalists by the accidental 
ignition of the dry grass, depriving the supposition that the 
islands were active at that time of its probability. 
THE LARGER FORMS OF LIFE. 
Great was the anxious suspense of the body of scientific men 
as they approached the island. As soon as the anchor was 
dropped, a small boaf was seen approaching, with three wild- 
looking men in it. ‘These human inhabitants were neither ab- 
origines nor shipwrecked seamen, but Frenchmen, voluntary 
colonists from St. Denis in the Isle of Bourbon, who, for the 
sake of the fishery, had established themselves near a spring, in 
the same way as the two sea-bear-hunters who were found settled 
there, in 1793, by the English man-of-war ‘ Lion,’ and who had 
remained for more than a year. Twice in the year a ship en- 
ables the French colonists to communicate with the Mascarene 
Islands. 
The examination of the island, continued during two weeks 
and a half by the whole scientific body landed there on purpose, 
has furnished us with an exhaustive view of all the larger forms 
of life of this isolated extinct volcano. 
Of vegetable forms St. Paul contains neither tree nor shrub ; 
but poppies, parsley, potatoes, and oats, growing wild, gave 
testimony to the previous settlement of Europeans. Of plants in 
general, besidesthe introduced cultivated species and their constant 
companions Sonchus arvensis, Digitaria, Plantago, Ceratium, and 
Stellaria media, the whole island presented 56 species indepen- 
dent of man,—namely, 11 probably aboriginal Phanerogamia 
(6 Grasses, 1 Cyperacean), 2 Ferns, 1 Lycopodium, 3 Mosses, 
2 Liverworts, 4 Lichens, and 33 Alge. The grasses form no 
meadows but the plants are only closely approximated ; never- 
theless they constitute the general covering of the soil. Their 
decay forms the mould, which is sometimes several feet thick. 
Of peculiar Mammals there was no trace; but there were 
pigs, goats, cats, and rabbits, which had become wild, and also 
rats and mice. The sea-bears (Arctocephalus falclandicus), which 
were formerly abundant, have disappeared, although as late as 
1793 the colonists found there were completing a cargo of 
25,000 skins, as many animals came daily to the shore. 
Of Birds, a peculiar Tern (Sterna), a Skua (Stercorarius an- 
tarcticus), the Broad-billed Petrel (Prion vittatus), three species 
of Albatross (Diomedea exulans, D. chlororhynchus, and Phebe- 
tria fuliginosa) were observed and collected. A species of Pen- 
