1909. ] ON THE FAUNA OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 101 
after a fruitless dive, the swordfish came close up and made a 
thrust at the calf, but received a blow from the whale’s flukes 
across the back, which apparently paralysed it. It was killed 
and hauled on board the boat without difficulty, while the whale 
and calf went off towards Coromandel with splashings and 
plungings. The whale’s blow had almost knocked off the back 
fin of the swordfish and heavily bruised the flesh around it. No 
threshers accompanied the swordfish. 
Dr. C. W. Andrews, F.R.S., F.Z.S., gave the following account 
of his visit to Christmas Island in 1908, and illustrated his 
remarks with lantern-slides :— 
“Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean (S. lat. 10° 25’, E. long. 
105° 42’) lies some two hundred miles south of Java, which is the 
nearest land. It has an area of about forty square miles, and its 
highest point is 1200 feet above the sea-level. The island con- 
sists mainly of coral-limestones resting on a basis of volcanic rock 
interstratified with foraminiferal limestones; the whole surface 
is thickly covered with forest and jungle. The fauna and flora 
of this isolated spot have been the subjects of numerous papers, 
a list of which up to the year 1900 is given in the ‘ Monograph 
of Christmas Island,’ a volume which contains a detailed account 
of the collections Gritieh were made by me during my former 
visit in the years 1897-8. Since that date the island has been 
visited by Messrs. Ridley and Hanitsch of Singapore, and the 
former has published an interesting account * of the flora, to 
which he was able to make a considerable number of additions. 
Almost up to the date of my first visit the island had been 
uninhabited, and was only visited by ships on very rare occasions ; 
but since then, owing to the quarrying and export of the valuable 
deposits of phosphate of lime, a considerable population has been 
imported, and many ships call either to bring stores or to ship 
cargoes. The consequence of this is that many animals and 
plants have been introduced from time to time, and it was for the 
purpose of investigating the effect of these introductions on the 
native flora and fauna that, at the suggestion of Sir John Murray, 
T revisited the island in the autumn of last year, remaining there 
about three months. The changes that have taken place are, as 
might be expected, chiefly noticeable in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood of the settlement and quarries, while the rest of the 
island, although traversed by roads in several directions, is 
practically unchanged. To this general statement there is, 
however, at least one important exception, and that is that the 
two species of native rats seem to have become totally extinct. 
At the time of my former visit these animals swarmed over the 
whole island, one, Jus macleari, being found practically every- 
* “The Botany of Christmas Island,” Straits Branch, Royal Asiatic Society 
Journal, June 1906, p. 121. 
