Zoology of the Andaman Islands. 



6743 



those of Mr. Quigley {vide Report, pp. 60, 65) ; and we have hitherto 

 always supposed that the Trochilidae, or humming birds, were quite 

 peculiar to America ! Even Lieut. Colebrooke, however, tells us that 

 "a species of humming bird, whose notes are not unlike those of the 

 cuckoo, is frequently heard in the night ! " But, for that matter, we 

 might cite a quasi-scientific book that treats cursorily of the zoology 

 of the province of Kemaon, wherein we read, amid other utter rub- 

 bish, of " Trochilus, or humming bird. In Kemaon this is a very 

 splendid genus, but so numerous that it would be impossible to enter 

 into an enumeration of the species"! — two or three species, and 

 scarcely more, of Nectariniidae being here intended. 



If the very remarkable genus Megapodius ever existed in the An- 

 damans, as it still does in the Nicobars, it is likely to have been 

 extirpated by the human inhabitants, who would dig the eggs from 

 the mounds, and so eventually exterminate the race ; inasmuch as it 

 is not likely to have penetrated far inland, especially in a dense forest. 

 Such a forest may be inhabited by Psittacidae, Bucerotidaj, Picida3, 

 Bucconidae, Cuculidae, Trogonidae, Batrachostomi (perhaps), and Co- 

 lumbidae ; but the small perching tribes would be little seen until 

 clearance had been effected, and then we doubt if the islands would 

 be remarkable for paucity of species ! At present our knowledge of 

 the Ornithology of the Andamans is meagre in the extreme.* 



Of reptiles we have seen as yet but four — a lizard, apparently a 

 female of a second species of the remarkable genus Dilophyrus ; a 

 particularly interesting small gecko (Phelsuma andamanense, also 

 new) ; a venomous snake {Trigonocephalus Cantori), which previously 

 was known only from the Nicobar islands ; and a harmless tree-snake, 

 common in the neighbouring countries, the Dendrophis picta. In the 

 inferior classes the reader will probably not be much interested ; and 

 we shall therefore merely remark that the most notable discovery is 

 that of a superb large land-crab, which there can be little doubt con- 

 tributes, and probably to no small extent, to the ordinary food of the 

 Andaman savages. 



No fresh-water fishes have been seen as yet; but some little mud- 

 skippers {Periopthalmus), and a curious new genus of them, which 



* The species as yet determined with certainty are Haematornis cheela, Blagrus 

 leucogaster, Todirhamphus collaris, Halcyon coromander, H. smyrnensis, Corvus cul- 

 minatus, Gracula javanica,Temenuchus erythropygia, Tephrodornis grisola, Geocichla 

 innotata, Copsychus saularis, Kittacincla albiventris (new), Artaraus leucoryhynchos, 

 Edolius retifer, Peiicrocotus peregrinus, Pycnonotus jocosus (Malayan var.), Ivena 

 puella (Indian var.), Oriolus coronatus, Carpophaga sylvatica, Catenas nicobaricus 

 (from the Cocos), and Anous slolida. 



