ON THE INVESTIGATION OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SOCOTRA. 215 



arrived in London on the 21st. Alexander Scott weftt by the Beccan to 

 Southampton, which brought him to England with the collections earjy 

 in Maj. Lieutenant Cockbiirn rejoined his regiment at Aden. 



Collections of specimens in all branches of Natural History were made. 

 As may be supposed I devoted particular attention to the Botany of the 

 island, and there are dried specimen.s of between 500 and 600 species of 

 floweiing plants in the collection, besides some Cryptogams. A certain 

 number of specimens were brought to England alive, amongst them being 

 such interesting plants as the Dragon's-blood tree and the true Aloe. A 

 misfortune deprived me of a number of living plants, and on this wise ■,±r 

 Having selected the majority of the more delicate living plants I purposed 

 to bring them with me to London, as thereby they would arrive a fort- 

 night earlier than by going by Southampton. At Brindisi, however, the 

 Custom House officer seized the plants and insisted on their being taken 

 back to the ship, not allowing me even to book them by another steamer 

 which would have taken them more directly to England. Consequently 

 the plants had to travel up to Venice and thence back to Suez before they 

 could be forwarded to Britain. And all this because the Italian Govern- 

 ment dreads the introduction of the Phylloxera into Italy, forgetful 

 apparently of the fact that it is already abundant in the country, and 

 also that it lives only on vines. , , ,! , .,; 



Specimens of the gums produced on the island and used in commerce 

 have been brought home. In the zoological collections there are a fe;r 

 snakes and lizards, some birds, fi-eshwater fish, Mollusca, Crustacea, and 

 Insecta of various kinds. 



Some of the land Mollusca have, come to this country alive. Two 

 living civet cats I was bringing for the Zoological Gardens died on the 

 way home. 



Illustrative of the geology of the island are about 500 specimens of 

 rocks and minerals from various localities on the island. Igneous, meta- 

 morphic, and sedimentaiy rocks are all represented. 



I regret that I was unable for some time after my return to turn my 

 attention to the distribution of the collections for examination. I have 

 recently, however, done so, and the following gentlemen have kindly con- 

 sented to examine certain groups : — 



Birds .... Mr. Sclater and Dr. Hartlaub. 



Land shells ~~ " r -^'-^^:^^""- Col. God win- Austen. 

 Zoological. ^ Crustacea . • • Prof Huxley. 



J Remaining Zoological col- "1 Dr. Giinther and Zoological staff 



V lections . . , / of British ]\Iuseum. 



r Igneous and nietaraorphic 1 -p,.^^^^^^^ Bonney. 

 Geological. < rocks . . . J 



(^ Sedimentary . . . # * * 



r Algse .... Dr. Dickie. 



I Fungi Dr. M. C. Cooke. 



Botanical. < Mosses and allies . . * * » 



Flowering and vascular . 1 j^^ -g , , Balfour. 



VCryptogamic plants . J 



The agreement made with the Committee as to the final disposition of 

 the specimens will be carried out, viz., the first set of specimens, zoolo- 

 gical, to go to the British Museum ; the first set of specimens, botanical, 

 to go to'^the collection at Kew ; a set of botanical to go to the British 



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