ANCIENT FAUNA OF THE MASCARENE ISLANDS. 347 



Rodriguez, I ought to mention some bones of mammals. I have 

 recognised the domestic cat, a very young pig, a rat (not the 

 brown rat, but the Mus Alexandrinus), and numerous (j^oussettes) 

 flying foxes. 



" Leguat speaks of them {vide ante, p. 80). 



" Pingre, who touched at Rodriguez in 1761 on his voyage for 

 the observation of the transit of Venus has given some details 

 of these animals: 'The bats,' he wrote, 'are placed by natu- 

 ralists among the quadrupeds ; those which I have seen at 

 Rodriguez were of the size of a pigeon, but longer. The head 

 resembles somewhat that of a fox. The coat is reddish brown 

 (roux), darker on the head and neck than on the rest of the body. 

 The wings are of a dark grey colour ; extended or stretched out, 

 they perhaps have from a foot to a foot-aud-a-half in length. 

 These bats otherwise resemble our European bats; they are 

 very fat.' 



" These animals still live in Rodriguez. They are not Pteropus 

 Edwardsii of Madagascar, which is much larger, or Pteropus 

 v^dgaris of Mauritius, whose remains are found with the Dodo, 

 and is also much larger. The flying fox of Rodriguez is a smaller 

 animal, probably Pteropus rubricollis.^' 



Sea Fowl. — " The sea-birds which frequent the coasts of Rod- 

 riguez are the same which have been there during the last two cen- 

 turies. We see, as in the time of Leguat, the Frigates, the Boobies, 

 the Boatswains, and the Petrels. The collection of Mr. E. Newton 

 includes a considerable number of the bones of the Boatswain 

 bird (Paille-en-queue), Phaeton candidus. 



" Leguat describes with great exactitude these birds {vide ante, 

 p. 83). 



" Mingled with the bones of the Phaetons are found numerous 

 remains of {Procellaria) Petrel, and some bones of a Shearwatei-, 

 probably not different to Pufimis ate^'rimus. 



" Only one fragment of the humerus of a Frigate and a Gannet 

 {Sida jjiscator). These birds abound in these seas, and Leguat 

 mentions them " (ante, p. 82). 



Extinction of Species. — " It is by comparing the sedentary 

 fauna," writes M. Milne-Edwards, " such as it is at the present 



