406 



ISLAND LIFE. 



[part II. 



satellites, that it is absolutely necessary to associate them together 

 if we wish to comprehend and explain their many interesting 

 features. 



Mauritius and Bourhon are lofty volcanic islands, evidently of 

 great antiquity. They are about 100 miles apart, and the sea 

 between them is less than 1,000 fathoms deep, while on each 

 side it sinks rapidly to depths of 2,400 and 2,600 fathoms. We 

 have therefore no reason to believe that they have ever been 

 connected with Madagascar, and this view is strongly supported 

 by the character of their indigenous fauna. Of this, however, 

 we have not a very complete or accurate knowledge, for though 

 both islands have long been occupied by Europeans, the study of 

 their natural products was for a long time greatly neglected, and 

 owing to the rapid spread of sugar cultivation, the virgin forests, 

 and with them no doubt many native animals, have been almost 

 wholly destroyed. There is, however, no good evidence of there 

 ever having been any indigenous mammals or amphibia, though 

 both are now found and are often recorded among the native 

 animals.^ 



^ In Maillard's Notes sur Vide de Reunion, a considerable number of 

 mammalia are given as "wild," such as Lemur mongoz and Centetes setosus, 

 both Madagascar species, with such undoubtedly introduced animals as a 

 wild cat, a hare, and several rats and mice. He also gives two species of 

 frogs, seven lizards, and two snakes. The latter are both Indian species 

 and certainly imported, as are most probably the frogs. Legouat, who 

 resided some years in the island nearly two centuries ago, and who was 

 a close observer of nature, mentions numerous birds, large bats, land- 

 tortoises, and lizards, but no other reptiles or venomous animals except 

 scorpions. We may be pretty sure, therefore, that the land-mammalia, 

 snakes, and frogs, now found wild, have all been introduced. Of lizards, 

 on the other hand, there are several species, some peculiar to the island, 

 others common to Africa and the other Mascarene Islands. The following 

 list by Prof. Dumeril is given in Maillard's work : — 



Platydactylus cepedianus. Hemidactylus frenaius. 



„ ocellatus. Gongylus hojerii. 



Hemidactylus peronii. A hlepharus peronii. 



„ mutilatus. 



Four species of chameleon are now recorded from Bourbon and one 

 from Mauritius (J. Eeay Greene, M.D., in Pop. Science Rev. April, 1880), 

 but as they are not mentioned by the old writers, it is pretty certain that 

 these creatures are recent introductions, and this is the more probable as 

 they are favourite domestic pets. 



