NA TURE 



[May 14, 1908 



THE CRUISES OF THE " VALHALLA.'" 



IN taUinsr with him as collector on the Valhalla a 

 yount; naturalist and presenting the specimens 

 obtained to the British Museum, Lord Crawford has 

 set an excellent example to all yacht-owners who, from 

 considerations of health (as in his Lordship's own 

 case) or pleasure, enjoy the opportunity of cruising 

 leisurely among islands of which the natural history is 

 still imperfectly known. Not only does the system- 

 atic collecting of natural history specimens add largely, 

 if undertaken in an appreciatiye spirit, to 

 the interest and pleasure of such a cruise, 

 but it may, as in the present instance, add 

 yery appreciably to zoological knowledge. 

 For during two of the Valhalla's cruises, 

 described in the present yolume, no fewer 

 than eleven birds were obtained, which in 

 the opinion of the British Museum experts 

 are entitled to rank as new species. 



In obtaining the services of Mr. Nicoll 

 as naturalist, the owner of the Valhalla 

 may be considered to have been specially 

 fortunate, as the book before us is evidently 

 the work of an acute observer, who knows 

 what to look for, and how to describe in 

 readable language what he has seen. The 

 selection appears indeed to have been for- 

 tunate in more ways than one, for the train- 

 ing and experience acquired during the 

 three cruises doubtless aided Mr. Nicoll in 

 obtaining his present post at the Giza Zoo- 

 logical Gardens, where he has every pros- 

 pect of a successful career. 



The first and longest voyage, during 

 which no fewer than 38,000 miles were 

 covered, consisted of the circumnavigation 

 of the .African continent, to which, however, 

 a wide berth was given on the west side, 

 where the vessel touched the Brazilian coast 

 at Bahia. The second cruise was to the 

 West Indies and back, during which the 

 ornithology of the Caiman Islands was 

 worked as fully as circumstances permitted ; 

 while the third and last was a voyage round 

 the world, in the course of which the yaclit 

 touched at quite a number of interesting 

 islands, including the Comoros, Seychelles, 

 Aldabra, and Tristan da Cunha. It was 

 this voyage that afforded by far the great 

 majority of the new birds; while it is also 

 the one which has acquired a historical 

 celebrity on account of the sight of the " sea- 

 serpent " off the Brazilian coast. Since 

 reference has been made to this incident on 

 a previous occasion in Nature, it will be 

 unnecessary to make special comment in 

 this place, except to mention that Mr. 

 Nicoll now expresses, apparently for the 

 first time, his belief, that the creature was 

 a mammal. 



At Punta .Arenas the author was asked 

 50/. for a small fragment of the skin of 

 the now well-known ground-sloth of the 

 of L^ltima Esperanza — an offer which gives him 

 the opportunity of stating that the creature is 

 almost certainly extinct, as otherwise specimens 

 would have been killed and offered for sale bv the 

 natives. If we have to abandon all hope of seeing a 

 live ground-sloth, it is satisfactory to learn that the 

 giant tortoises of .Aldabra are still to the fore. 

 On Aldabra itself there are only a few remaining, 



1 "Three VoyaKesof a N.ntiiralist : being an Account of many little-known 

 slands in Three Oceans visited by the V'tillialln, R.Y.S." By M. J. Nicoll. 

 jjtroduction by Rieht Hon. the Earl of Crawford. Pp. xxvi + 246; illus- 

 ted. (London: Witherby and Co., 1908.) Price ts. 6rf. net. 



which the party was unable to visit, but in the 

 Seychelles a number are now kept in a walled enclo- 

 sure at Government House. While some were of huge 

 size, others were but recently hatched; and it seems 

 that these reptiles breed freely in captivity, and that 

 all the islands of the group have tortoise-farms. 



.Another noteworthy event of the third voyage was 

 a visit to Marie Louise Bay, in Praslin Island, 

 Seychelles, for the purpose of inspecting the famous 

 " coco-de-mer " trees, which grow in a small valley 



' Coco 



cavern 



de Mer" Trees, Praslin Isl;Hnd, Seychelles. From "Three Voyages of a 

 Naturalist." 



above the bay, and are found in a wild state nowhere 

 else in the world. The author was informed that the 

 huge nuts take many years to mature ; while practical 

 experience convinced him that even when they reach 

 that stage their contents are insipid, and far inferior 

 to the ordinary cocoanut. 



Did space permit, reference might be made to many 

 other interesting passages in Mr. Nicoll's volume, 

 which, although containing little that is absolutely 

 new, may be commended as a well-written narrative 

 of the e.xperiences of an eager naturalist in remote 

 islands. R. L. 



NO. 201 1, VOL. 78] 



