In . INTRODUCTION. 



published in the PhilosojyJiical Transactions of the 

 Royal Society. Professor Balfour succeeded in 

 identifying the most characteristic of the plants 

 described by Leguat, and his notes form the most 

 interesting commentary possible on Leguat's faithful 

 delineation of the productions of his island home. 



One more ocean voyage of recent date in an open 

 boat deserves recording ; and it is to be hoped that 

 it is the last of its kind, for surely the Government 

 will insist on better provision being ensured for this 

 most unfortunate poverty-stricken little colony. 



At present the whole budget of the island barely 

 exceeds some five hundred pounds p^r annum, from 

 which the impecuniosity of the dependent islet can 

 be judged. 



On the 15th of April 1886, a very severe cyclone 

 struck the island, which lies in the very track of 

 the so-called Mauritius hurricanes, during w4iich a 

 colonial schooner was lost, adding the cost of main- 

 tenance of the shipwrecked captain and crew to the 

 debt of the inhabitants. This cyclone, which occa- 

 sioned the severest hurricane hitherto experienced 

 by those longest in the colony, besides causing 

 great damage to crops and property, was followed 

 by an almost continual drought. The state of 



reports of proceedings of the Naturalists, viz. : Petrology, by N. 

 S. Maskelyne, F.R.S. ; Botany, MM. Balfour, Mitten, Crorabie, 

 Berkeley, and Dickie ; Zoology, Extinct Fauna, Bone Caves, by 

 Mr. Slater ; Birds, by Dr. Giinther and E. Newton ; Osteology of 

 the Solitaire, hj E. Ne\vton and J. W. Clark; Reptiles, by Dr. 

 Giinther; Recent Fauna, by Dr.Gimther, MM.Sharpe, Smith, Miers, 

 Butler, Waterhonse, Grube, Gulliver, Briiggemann, and otiicrs. 



