A DAY AT CHRISTMAS ISLAND 



BY 



H. N. RIDLEY, m.a., f.l. s. 



N a naturalist's eyes there is always a peculiar interest 

 attaching to an oceanic island. For, owing to its 

 isolation, we are able to obtain many clues to ob- 

 scure points in the distribution and development of 

 species, by investigating its fauna and flora. 



In speaking of an oceanic island, I mean one which has, as 

 far as we know, arisen by volcanic or other action from the 

 sea, and is not merely a detached portion of an adjacent con- 

 tinent, or of a continent which has in lapse of time been des- 

 troyed. Under this category come most, if not all. of the chain 

 of islands which lie scattered throughout the Atlantic Ocean 

 far away from land, such as the Azores, Canaries, Madeira, 

 Cape Verde, Fernando de Noronha, St. Paul's Rocks, Tristan 

 d'Acunha, St. Helena, South Trinidad and Martin Vaz, the 

 Crozets, Diego Garcia, and, farther East, Cocos and Christ- 

 mas Islands. The plants and animals inhabiting nearly all 

 these islands have now been pretty well explored, and good ac- 

 counts, especially of the plants, have been published by various 

 travellers and naturalists. Mr. HEMSLEY has collected all the 

 work done on the botany of these islands, andadded much there- 

 to in the great work of "The Voyage of the Challenger '." One 

 or two, however, remain to be more thoroughly examined, as at 

 present but little is known of them. These are South Trini- 

 dad and its companion Martin Vaz lying off the coast of 

 Brazil, and Christmas Island, now a British Colony attached to 

 the Straits Settlements. 



