402 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



of the former, and is three-quarters of a mile long ; both are 

 comparatively narrow. These isles are seated upon and surrounded 

 by one dangerous rocky bank, which extends from the western 

 side of the little isle half a league to the westward. . . The 

 southern part of the Great Piton appears green, its northern part 

 barren. It may be seen five or six leagues off. The Little Piton 

 is very flat, and is connected to the south point of the greater one 

 by a continued ledge of rocks. The whole of the eastern side of 

 the Great Piton is rocky and dangerous." 



These islands were visited so recently as 1889 by Mr. E. F. 

 Knight, who, in his book, * The Cruise of the Alerte,' has given a 

 description of them, excellent from the seaman's point of view, 

 but incomplete from that of the naturalist. Although the Ad- 

 miralty chart gives the coasts and shoals of the Great Salvage very 

 correctly^ since this was prepared great changes must have taken 

 place at the Pitons or southern islands, and this part of the chart 

 is now far from correct. There can be no doubt that the sea has 

 made great encroachments on the land, for the Great Piton 

 cannot now be more than a mile and a half long, including the 

 outlying rocks which are connected with the mainland at low 

 water. Great Salvage is at the present time by far the largest 

 of the three, its steep, rocky coast having defied the fury of the 

 Atlantic. 



Our object in visiting the Salvages was to ascertain what 

 features of interest the flora and fauna presented. The flora of 

 the Great Salvage had already been described by Lowe in a little 

 pamphlet entitled * Florulse Salvagicse Tentamen, or a List of 

 Plants collected in the Salvages or Salvage Islands,' but he never 

 visited these islands himself, the whole of his material having 

 been obtained through the Portuguese fishermen, who every 

 autumn frequent these islands as a fishing station, catching at 

 the same time enormous numbers of the young of the Great 

 Shearwater (Puffinus kuhli), which are there in thousands, and 

 valuable for their oil and feathers. By going in the early part 

 of the year we hoped to find many plants in flower which Lowe 

 had not obtained, and were not disappointed. We took ship, 

 accordingly, for Madeira, and landed at Funchal on April 10th, 

 after a splendid passage on the 'Tantallon Castle,' the largest and 

 one of the best equipped ships of the Castle line. Nor must we 

 pass over this part of our journey without expressing our 



