Nature . ba, Stadtmannia,Afzelia, Campnosperma, &c), have beensingled out and cut, but bare stems olcapucin (Northea seychellarum) standup everywhere above the foliage. Thedestruction of the latter, which prob-ablv will shortly be complete, we dis-covered to be due to a green beetle,which deposits its eggs singly in thenew leaf-buds, the resulting maggotconsuming all their softer parts. The most interesting feature in thebotanv was the sharp distinction ofthe cotyledonous plants into threeclasses, the calciphilous, the silici-philous, and the indifferents, the latterforming a smaller percentag
Nature . ba, Stadtmannia,Afzelia, Campnosperma, &c), have beensingled out and cut, but bare stems olcapucin (Northea seychellarum) standup everywhere above the foliage. Thedestruction of the latter, which prob-ablv will shortly be complete, we dis-covered to be due to a green beetle,which deposits its eggs singly in thenew leaf-buds, the resulting maggotconsuming all their softer parts. The most interesting feature in thebotanv was the sharp distinction ofthe cotyledonous plants into threeclasses, the calciphilous, the silici-philous, and the indifferents, the latterforming a smaller percentage of thein-s in fathoms. whole than either of the other two. The calciphilous species are practicallythe same as we found on all the coralislands we visited, and are scarcely more numerous. Thisgroup of plants was, I consider, ocean-carried, the Sey-, helles l«-ing in respect to it as oceanic as any island ofthe Chagos Archipelago. Moreover, of the other trees FrigateRecif <{U40o) (158) s? J Miles. -Fringing R many seemed to possess seeds, which could have beenbrought by currents, &c, to the islands. The finest in-dividual species of tree was the coco-de-mer, or doublecoconut (Lodoicea seychellarum), which is peculiar to 296 NATURE [January 25, 1906 Praslin. Its palms are either male or female, and ourexamination of more than 300 of its nuts showed that theyare of two distinct, structurally different forms in approxi-mately equal proportions, both kinds growing on the samefemale tree. The case is, so far as I know, unique. Of the land animals we did not attempt to collect thebirds, as they were already sufficiently known. Moreover,most of the peculiar Seychelles species would seem to havebeen nearly, if not entirely, destroyed bv paid Government of the Seychelles has, however, promisedan ordinance to hinder further destruction. The intro-duced birds do not belong to the jungle, where, indeedland birds are seldom seen. Mammals are represented byrats, mice, and
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