46 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Ilha cle Ratta, ratta being Portuguese for both rat and mouse. 

 Albinos of both species occur, but those of the former are rare. 

 Once a month the convicts have a battue of rats and mice, certain 

 men having to bring in fifty a-piece. They go out with dogs and 

 sticks, and at the end of the day the slain are displayed in a large 

 pile. One of tbese hunts took place while we were on the island, 

 and three thousand nine hundred and odd rats and mice of all 

 sizes and ages were placed in a heap in the square after the 

 evening service. This was a tolerably good capture for that time 

 of year ; but in the dry season, when the vegetation is all burnt up, 

 and both food and shelter are scarce, the animals are easier to 

 catch, and as many as twenty thousand have been caught in one 

 day. The domestic cat has run wild in some of the islands. 

 There was one on Rat Island which had escaped from an Italian 

 vessel wrecked there, and was living on the mice and doves. 



It is curious that no Bats occur on any of these islands, 

 although they are so abundant on the neighbouring mainland. 

 There are three species of terrestrial reptiles — a Skink, Mabuia 

 punctata ; a new species of Amphisboena ; and the Common 

 House Gecko. The Skink is very common, and occurs on all 

 the islands ; it is about six inches in length, and of an iridescent- 

 brown colour; it is very tame, and if the observer remains 

 motionless will approach very close : it is apparently omnivorous. 

 On one occasion when I had blown some doves' eggs, a Skink ran 

 forward and drank up the yelk ; another time, on throwing away 

 the skins of some bananas we had been eating, the lizards ran up 

 and carried them off, or ate them on the spot. The Amphisboena 

 lived under stones and in the soil, as is the general habit of these 

 animals ; a number were found in digging sweet potatoes on Rat 

 Island. The House Gecko was very common in the houses, 

 where it did good service against the mosquitos, and it also lived 

 during the day between the petioles of the bananas. We found 

 its eggs on one or two occasions, either lying loosely on the 

 ground in the garden or in a hole in the stem of a papaw-tree : 

 they were perfectly globular and white, about the size of a pea, 

 and rather large for the size of the animal. 



Turtles were sometimes to be seen in the quiet sandy bays, 

 lifting their heads from time to time out of the water ; they are not 

 eaten here, but their eggs are much sought after at the breeding 



