Transit-Expedition Naturalists at Rodriguez. 365 



Since then 1 have found a small nook in another cave, to which 



it was (liHicult, from the small size of the entrance, to penetrate. 

 Into this also a slit or cleft from the surface had led, but li:ul 

 since been obliterated. In this I found, I should say, seven 

 " sets " of bones of Solitaire. These were more or less mixed 

 up together by the action of water ; but they were still, to a 

 certain extent, in groups, each group being those of an individual. 

 Amongst these I found a perfect skull, with maxilla) attached, 

 and the three parts of the mandible lying close by, four perfect 

 and several injured furculae, and many rings of trachea). 



I propose soon to try my fortune in a small marsh near here, which 

 looks as if it might originally have been a lakelet or pond. I am 

 induced to do so by the success that my labours met with in a 

 similar locality in Mauritius. I have said " near here ;" but this is 

 a slip of the pen ; I should have said " near my encampment at 

 the caverns." 



1 have found an immense quantity of tortoise-bones, from w hich 

 I shall only make a selection before leaving. I have also exhumed 

 a great quantity of bones of smaller birds ; but 1 rather hesitate 

 before giving a description of their genera. 



1 am afraid that I cannot send any bones by this mail, as the 

 difficulty of transport is so very great. I have every week brought 

 back a few bones of Solitaire, but have had hardly any time to put 

 even these in gelatine, without which operation they would not 

 travel with any degree of safety. 



I am, dear Sir, 



Very o|->ediently yours, 

 To Prof. Ihuvley. Henry H. Slater. 



Eodriguez, Nov. 3, 1874. 



My deae Sie, — A mail being about to leave the island by 

 H.M.S. ' Shearwater,' I now send you some account of my pro- 

 ceedings up to the present time. 



I have searched for frogs, more especially tree-frogs ; but all the 

 uatives of the island tell me that there are none ; and as 1 have 

 neither heard nor seen them, I conclude that this must be the 

 case. With regard to lizards, there is a small house-lizard very 

 abundant. It belongs to the genus Peripia, and is very probably 

 the same as that found in Mauritius. It is not only found in 

 houses, but also in trees, beneath the bark of which it lays its eggs. 

 I have been told of a much larger lizard which inhabits a certain 

 part of the island, and have myself searched the spot, but have 

 been unable to find it. I have also offered a reward for a speci- 

 men, but have not yet procured one. 



The same has been the case with regard to another lizard, 

 which lives on Frigate Island, a small island lying off the coast of 

 Rodriguez. 



