CHAP. XIX.] 
THE MADAGASCAR GROUP. 
401 
are of granite, with mountains rising to 3,000 feet in Mah4, and 
to from 1,000 to 2,000 feet in several of the other islands. We 
can therefore hardly doubt that they form a portion of the great 
line of upheaval which produced the central granitic mass 
of Madagascar, intervening points being indicated by the 
Amirantes, the* Providence, and the Farquhar Islands, which, 
though all coralline, probably rest on a granitic basis. Deep 
channels of more than 1,000 fathoms now separate these 
islands from each other, and if they were ever sufficiently 
elevated to be united, it was probably at a very remote epoch. 
The Seychelles may thus have had ample facilities for 
receiving from Madagascar such immigrants as can pass over 
narrow seas ; and, on the other hand, they were equally favour- 
ably situated as regards the extensive Saya de Malha and 
Cargados banks, which were probably once large islands, and 
may have supported a rich insular flora and fauna of mixed 
Mascarene and Indian type. The existing fauna and flora of 
the Seychelles must therefore be looked upon as the remnants 
which have survived the partial submergence of a very extensive 
island ; and the entire absence of mammalia may be due, either 
to this island having never been actually united to Madagascar, 
or to its having since undergone so much submergence as to 
have led to the extinction of such mammals as may once have 
inhabited it. The birds and reptiles, however, though few in 
number, are very interesting, and throw some further light on 
the past history of the Seychelles. 
Birds of the Seychelles . — Fifteen indigenous land-birds are 
known to inhabit the group, thirteen of which are peculiar 
species, 1 belonging to genera which occur also in Madagascar or 
1 The following is a list of these peculiar birds. (See the Ibis , for 1867, 
p. 359; and 1879, p. 97.) 
Passeres. 
Ellisia seychellensis. 
Copsychus seychellarum. 
JFIypsipetes crassirostris. 
Tchitrea corvina. 
Nectarinia dussumieri. 
Zosterops modesta. 
„ semiflava. 
Foudia seychellarum. 
Columb^:. 
Alectorcenas pulcherrimus. 
Turtur rostralus. 
Accipitres. 
Tinnunculus gracilis. 
Coracopsis barlclyi. 
Palceornis wardi. 
PsiTTACI. 
D D 
