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 Bourbon 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. 1 
1 In Maillard’s Notes sur VIsle 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 bojerii. 
Hemidactylus peronii. A blepharus peronii. 
„ mutilatus. 
Four species of chameleon are now recorded from Bourbon and one 
from Mauritius (J. Reay 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. 
