732 The American Naturalist. [August, 
and an old, grizzled officer in half-military dress began to tell remark- 
able stories of a young American naturalist whom he knew in the 
islands many years before. I finally made out to recognize myself in 
one of these stories, and the old man as an officer whom I had met and 
stopped with in-the island of Basilan in ‘*’74.’’ He was acting gov- 
ernor of Masbate now, and the next morning put the whole establish- 
ment at our service. We were too many to accept his hospitality, and 
he ordered the school-house, which was closed for a vacation, to be 
put ai our disposal. The palm thatch was in bad repair, but we had 
left the oncoming rainy season behind at our last stopping place, and 
the tables and benches served us well for our work. Several prisoners 
in chains were sent to transport our baggage up the steep hill, and we 
moved in immediately and got over breakfast in our new home while 
the ‘‘Salvamiento’’ was slowly making her way out of the harbor. 
The same day several of our party got out to some patches of woods 
not far away, and found the country so dry that great cracks ran 
through the soil in every direction. Birds of several kinds, especially 
parrots and cockatoos, were abundant. All the birds brought in had 
a familiar look, and the next day the same; and there was now no 
doubt of it, we had struck another island of the central group, and 
the birds were identical with those of Panay and Negros. Masbate is 
distant enough from these to have a fauna of its own, but a study of 
the sea-bottom will probably show shallows which have not long ago 
connected it with the other central islands. After we had spent four 
or five days at Palanoc, and just as we were planning a trip into a 
wilder and better-timbered part of the island, the steamer “‘ Taal ’’ came 
into the harbor, and began loading with cattle for Manila. We found 
she would touch at Marinduque, our next stopping place, on her way, 
and, after a hurried consultation, concluding we could add but little 
of value to our collections from Masbate, we packed our goods and 
got on board the same evening, some of the woodsmen bringing us a 
few fine tree snails while we were on our way to the steamer. The / 
species of land and tree snails of the Philippines are more restricted 
in distribution than even the short-winged birds. ~ 
e next morning found us well on our way, and passing through a 
multitude of islands, several of them of considerable size and impor- 
tance. e southeastern extremity of Luzon was also in sight, and 
the famous volcano of A y. 
We arrived at the port or roadstead of Boac, in the island of Mar- 
induque, just at night again, and we and our baggage were set ashore 
just before dark. The town was several miles away, but a few houses, 



