276 Froceeding-i of the Royal I r Mi Aco.d.emy, 



tliat is to say, more than fifty years before the discovery of the Azores 

 by the Portuguese — ia ttMcL. seven of the islands of the Azorean 

 arehip^lago are indicated hy name. Some of these names are of very 

 particular zoological interest, as they are evidently derived from the 

 names of animals "^hieh the early G-enoese navigators discovered on 

 the islands. They are as follows : — 



Capraria = goat island ^noTv San ^Miguel). 

 Columbis = pigeon island 'no-sv Pico), 

 Li Conigi = rabbit island (no-w Plores). 

 Corvi marini = island of sea-crows (now Corvo). 



Drouet has already directed attention to the peculiarities of the 

 ^oat of Saint Michael island with its antelope -like horns ; while God- 

 man states (p. 15^ that the island of Pico, with its dense growth of 

 evergreen brushwood, is the home of the wood-pigeon [Columba palum- 

 hm, L.). I do not know whether the rabbit still inhabits Flores, 

 though it is known to occur in the uncultivated districts of St. ^Machael ; 

 but it seems evident that the name " rabbit island^' was given by the 

 early discoverers of the island, because these animals were abundant 

 there. As regards the expression " corvi marini," the term may pos- 

 sibly refer to the great shearwater [Puffinm mojor), which, according 

 to Godman, may be seen]throughout the archipelago, and which f onnerly 

 may have been particularly common on the island of Corvo. 



The result of these historical inq^uiries seems therefore to justify 

 the supposition that mammals, such as the wild goat and the rabbit, 

 are truly indigenous species on the Azores, and that these islands 

 have received their land fauna from Europe by a direct laud-connection 

 "Wh.en we examine the general fauna of the Atlantic Islands more 

 closely, the validity of such a supposition becomes more and more 

 strengthened; and it must be appai-ent that their colonization cannot 

 have been due to influences of atmospheric propulsion, even when 

 assisted by hurricanes. 



Even if the Azores possessed no indigenous Mammalia, tlieir inver- 

 tebrate fauna alone seems to me to favour the view that the islands 

 had recently formed part of our Continent. Are not the Seychelles 

 destitute of mammals ? Yet even Dr. "Wallace admits (B, p 243) that 

 they cannot be classed among the oceanic islands. Xew-Caledonia 

 has neither mammals nor amphibians; nevertheless its general fauna is 

 such that it must have formed part of larger land-areas within Ter- 

 tiary times [cf. Hedley's interesting observations on Placostylus). 

 After a few remarks on the geological aspects of the " Atlantis" 



I 



