84 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Of the other Invertebrates the Crustaceans are the most 

 interesting. There are several species of land crabs, including 

 the Robber crab (Birgus latro), which is common every- 

 where. 



One remarkable circumstance is the occurrence of earth 

 worms which were found many miles from the settlement, so 

 that they cannot have been introduced by man. 



There are several species of land shells. 



Of the marine invertebrata only small collections were 

 made. 



Plants.— The extension of leave rendered it possible to 

 obtain flowers of almost all the trees and plants. Mr. 

 Ridley's observation that the so-called teak is not really 

 Tectona was confirmed. The tree is really Berrya almo- 

 nilla, and the timber seems nearly as good as teak. Ferns 

 are numerous, and in the wet season fungi are to be seen 

 everywhere. 



Mosses and lichens are not common, and only one fresh- 

 water Alga was obtained. 



Mr. Andrews received news of the extension of his leave 

 on December 29th, 1897, and expected to get away from the 

 island about the end of February, but the boat did not call 

 as arranged, owing partly to bad weather, and it was not till 

 the 7th of May that Mr. Ross's schooner touched at the 

 island on its way from Batavia to the Cocos-Keeling Islands. 

 At these islands a further delay of about four weeks 

 occurred, and Mr. Andrews left on June 12th, reaching 

 Batavia on June 27th, after a voyage of 15 days. He left 

 Batavia by the Messageries Mari times steamer on July .5th 

 and reached Marseilles on July 31st. He returned to duty 

 at the Museum on August 3rd, 1898. 



The results of the expedition will be embodied in a 

 Monograph on Christmas Island, which, it is expected, will 

 be issued in the ensuing summer. 



Deep-Sea Investigation. 



Mr. George Murray, Keeper of the Department of Botany, 

 and Dr. J. W. Gregory and Mr. V. H. Blackman, Assistants, 

 were absent from official duty at .the Museum from the 15th 

 to the 26th November, engaged in a deep-sea tow-netting 

 expedition in the North Atlantic with the purpose of investi- 

 gating the intermediate depths of the ocean, special leave 

 of absence having been granted them to enable them to 

 carry out this object. They obtained a large series of 

 organisms, which, after they have been worked out by 

 experts, will be deposited permanently in the Museum. 



