against 37 for the much larger island of Madeira. These include 

 very diverse forms belonging to a series of genera and sub-genera. 

 Perhaps nowhere else in the world is such a concentration of 

 species of these animals. Marine fossils of Miocene age occur 

 in Porto Santo, but the snail fauna must be older than the 

 Miocene. Its affinities are with the genera of Europe, but 

 however it may have reached the island it has long been isolated. 

 Its history as an insular fauna must surely date from the P>)cene 

 or even late Mesozoic. 



When we compare the flora with the snail fauna the contrast 

 is extreme. The recorded terrestrial vascular plants, excluding 

 those only in cultivation, number 315 species. Of these, 257 



No. I. — View from Villa Baleira. The conical peak is Pico do Castello. The double 

 peak, more to the right, is Pico de Facho, the highest point in the island. 



are dicotyledons, 48 monocotyledons, 2 gymnosperms, and 8 

 vascular cryptogams. To this list I can add one more, Adonis 

 microcarpa DC. {cupaniana Guss.), which I found in a field near 

 the Fonte d ' Areia on the north side of the island. I determined 

 it by comparison with specimens at Kew. The genus is new 

 to the Madeira Islands, but it has undoubtedly been introduced. 

 The species is known from North Africa, the Canaries, Portugal, 

 Syria, etc. This flora presents very few endemic elements and 

 these are in general of such a character as to indicate recent 



