110 [April, 
species is the Andamanese form of the widely distributed Tree-Rat 
(Mus rattus VAU. andamanensis.)* 
In Rarcondam at dusk a frugivorous hat was observed flitting from 
tree to tree, and in Barren Island the writer came upon an example of 
Ficus Bumphii, on the outer aspect of the outer cone and about half a 
mile to the north of the landing place at the hot-spring, which was the 
home of a colony of these creatures. The writer was able to reach a 
point on the cliff almost overlooking the tree and where he was not 
more than twenty-five yards away from the bats. He was able to see 
that they were of a very dark brown (almost black) colour but, having 
no fowling-piece, he could not secure a specimen.f It is not improbable 
that, as in the case of the rats, the bats on the two islands belong to 
the same species. 
Goats have more than once been landed on both islands. On Har- 
condam there were however none to be seen and when one recollects 
that for a considerable portion of the year the island is absolutely water¬ 
less the fact is not surprising. And those formerly landed on Bai’ren 
Island must also have perished, for a few years ago. Col. Tucker, then in 
charge of the Andamans, found it necessary to land five more. During 
our visit we several times saw three goats in company and as we dis¬ 
covered among the lava blocks the skeletons of two others it is not im¬ 
possible that we were thus able to account for the whole five. The three 
seen together were all adults, perhaps ^'herefore they have either not 
begun to breed or their young have been unable to survive. A well- 
trodden foot-path across the lava causeway near the landing-place 
shows that the goats come daily, at least during the dry season, to drink 
at the only spring the island possesses, hot-water charged with over 200 
grains per gallon of saline matter. J Each morning during the writer’s 
* Gatal. of Mammalia in the Indian Museum, pt. ii, p. 63. 
t Had a specimen been shot it probably conld not have been secured, for a direct 
descent from the writer’s position to the foot of the tree was impracticable and to 
reach the spot where the specimen must have fallen wonld have entailed :—1, a return 
to the landing-place (two hours work to begin with) ; 2, rowing half a mile to the mouth 
of the galley in which the tree stood ; and (granting that the sea-mouth of the proper 
gulley was hit off and, if it was, that a landing could have been effected—neither 
event being at all a necessary consequence,) 3, a search for the particular tree in¬ 
volving a climb of over 800 feet through a particularly difHoult jungle with much 
the same prospect of ultimate success that there would be in the proverbial search 
for “ a needle in a haystack.” But this should only whet the appetite of the true 
collector for a visit to the islands; it will however show that the geologist or 
botanist who visits the place with but a limited time at his disposal, must confine hia 
attention to his own subject and can do but dilettante work in any other direction, 
3; Memoirs of the Geol. Survey of India, vol. xxi, p. 277. 
236 
