402 
Of the above, Gyclea peltata, Ahrus precatmius, Acacia pennaia, Al- 
hizzia Leblek, Alhizzia procera, Ipomoea Turpethum, and Pollia zorzogon- 
ensis occur in Narcondam. With few exceptions they are widely distri¬ 
buted species ; five are cosmopolitan, one extends throughout the Eastern 
Hemisphere and thence to A.ustralia and Polynesia, two extend from 
Africa and Asia to Australia, one occurs in Asia and Africa, one in 
Asia and Australia; only eight species, or less than half of the group, 
are confined to South-Eastern Asia. Of these latter, three are confined 
to the countries east of the Bay of Bengal; two of them, Panicum 
javanicum, and the particular variety of PolUa zorzogonensis that occurs, 
are moreover distinctively l\Ialayan, as opposed to Indo-Chinese, plants. 
On the other hand one species, Dendrocalamus strictus, is as distinctively 
an Indian or Indo-Chinese plant. 
We have now in conclusion to consider the “remanent ” species, a 
list of which is given in the subjoined table ; in a few cases where in. 
troduction is remotely possible the agency that may have been respon¬ 
sible is indicated. 
“ where they happened to alight, to make way for the keeper or his men.” (Hume ; 
Stray Feathers, vol. ii, p. 113-4.) 
In this passage we have all the evidence that is required to show that not merely 
the nsnal visitants but even nnnsnal ones may at times he driven to, or seek shelter 
on these islands when in an exhausted or injured condition, and to show that this is 
as likely to happen to grain-, pulse-, and seed-eating species as to fruit-, or fish-, 
crustacean- or mollusc-eating ones It is of little moment that the fish- or crustacean- 
eating species must always be the more numerous, if we know that species of the 
other kind are at any time driven to the islands in this state. All of these exhausted 
and injured creatures certainly do not recover or escape destruction. As regards 
those that simply die, when the insects that abound have eaten all but their bones, 
the seeds that may have been contained in tbeir crops must fall aside and may 
germinate and grow. And as regards those that are killed and devoured it would be 
remarkable if a few of the seeds in their crops did not thus fall aside and obtain an 
opportunity of germinating. 
Even if no other creature that exists in these islands were capable of, or likely 
to, catch and eat such exhausted birds, the presence of a large lizard— Hydrosaurus 
snh’ator— which is very common, is sufficient to account for the destruction of 
many of them. During our visit to Little Coco one of the officers of the ” Investi¬ 
gator ” shot two Garpophaga bicolor—right and left—by the side of the lagoon near 
the south end of the island. Before his attendant could reach the birds, which had 
fallen among the Pandanus bushes of the sea-fence, one of these lizards had 
already eaten all but the wings and head of one pigeon and had torn open the breast 
of the second ere it could be interrupted in its feast. On a previous occasion 
a Hydrosaurus was killed as it was apparently about to seize a Teal that had just 
been shot and had been laid down on a rock in the same lagoon. On opening up 
this creature its stomach was found to contain already a large land crab, two fishes, 
and a quantity of grassy roots (apparently those of Scirpus suhulatus), 
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