726 REPORT— 1888. 



the species and a seventh of its g-enera of plants are peculiar to the island. And 

 this is as it should be ; the genera have for the most part survived the untold ages 

 that have elapsed since their first appearance, while the species have been subjected 

 to enormous modification. Such a very large amount of specific differentiation 

 seems to point in the clearest manner to long isolation. The antiquity of the 

 island is also abundantly evidenced by the remarkable character of its fauna, a 

 subject, however, which need not be discussed here. At what period the island 

 was connected with the adjacent continent it is impossible to state with certainty, 

 but, as has been remarked elsewhere, as nummulitic limestone occurs on a great 

 part of the west coast of Madagascar, there seems to have been probably no land 

 connection in Eocene times ; and as the inroad of the higher forms of mammals into 

 South Africa from the Euro-Asiatic continent probably took place, as Mr. Wallace 

 shows, in later Miocene or early Pliocene times, Madagascar must have been cut oft" 

 from the mainland at least previous to the later Pliocene period, as the absence of 

 such mammals in the island proves. This would allow time for the migration of 

 the mammals to South Africa, which would not unlikely keep pace with the 

 gradual lowering of the temperature going on in the Northern Hemisphere. This 

 also would explain the existence of a comparatively cold period succeeded by a 

 warm one, during which, or some part of which, Madagascar must have been joined 

 to the mainland, for it is now well known that iu the Northern Hemisphere in 

 Tertiary time there was a gradual lowering of the temperature from that of a 

 tropical to a temperate or even a cold climate. This being of course reversed iu 

 the Southern Hemisphere, we should have a cold period followed by a warm one. 

 It seems probable, therefore, that Madagascar was joined to the African continent 

 during some part or parts or the whole of the Miocene (including Oligocene) or 

 early Pliocene period. 



5. On the Effects of the Weather 0/I888 on the Animal and Vegetable 

 Kingdoms. By E. J. Lowe, F.E.S. 



First, attention must be drawn to the extraordinar}' mortality amongst birds 

 and the fearful increase in the number of slugs and insect pests during the present 

 spring and summer near Chepstow. At Shirenewton at the present time there is 

 not a redbreast, wren, goldcrest, coal-tit, marsh-tit, longtailed-tit, nuthatch, 

 creeper, night jar, lesser spotted woodpecker, redcrest. grej' wagtail, redstart, 

 blackcap, white-throat, or red-pole, although usually they are all common. There 

 are scarcely any examples of land-rail, water-ouzel, thrush, missel-thrush, dun- 

 nock, whinchat, garden-warbler, siskin, linnet, or swallow, although these are also 

 usually common in this district. Amongst birds those that seem to be of an 

 average number are tlie crow, rook, jackdaw, magpie, jay, sparrow-hawk, swift, 

 skylark, moor-hen, starling, and blackbird. 



Usually birds are so abundant here that, without nets, cherries, strawberries, 

 raspberries, currants, and gooseberries are all devoured by them. This year there 

 has been no necessity for nets, as the fruit has been untouched by birds, or rather 

 there have been no birds to eat it. 



The long deep snow in February destroyed many birds, but this does not 

 account for the absence of so many summer birds. Only four or five swallows 

 can be seen at one time, and only a solitary land-rail has been heard. 



During the last two or three weeks there has been an increase in the number 

 of the following birds: blackbird, willow-warbler, chaffinch, sparrow, great-tit, 

 blue-tit, spotted flycatcher, swallow, martin, and dunnock. It may be mentioned 

 that in June a pair of sand-grouse settled close to the cricket-ground in Shire- 

 newton Park, but they were not seen again. 



Usually there is an increase in the number of slugs and insect pests after a 

 cold winter, and this year that increase has been enormous; seedling plants, 

 vegetables, and flowers have been destroyed wholesale, and great damage has been 

 done to the wheat, grass, and other agricultural crops, but what has been most 

 noticeable is the destruction by caterpillars of all the leaves of the oak. Thousands 



