s. The most
terrestrial pigeon--the Didunculus of the Samoan Islands, has a far deeper
and better developed keel, showing that in the case of the dodo the
degradation has been extreme. We have also analogous examples in other
extinct birds of the same group of islands, such as the flightless
Rails--Aphanapteryx of Mauritius and Erythromachus of Rodriguez, as well as
the large parrot--Lophopsittacus of Mauritius, and the Night Heron,
_Nycticorax megacephala_ of Rodriguez, the last two birds probably having
been able to fly a little. The commencement of the same process is to be
seen in the peculiar dove of the Seychelles, _Turtur rostratus_, which, as
Mr. Edward Newton has shown, has much shorter wings than its close ally,
_T. picturatus_, of Madagascar. For a full and interesting account of these
and other recently extinct birds see Professor Newton's article on "Fossil
Birds" in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, ninth edition, vol. iii., p. 732;
and that on "The Extinct Birds of Rodriguez," by Dr. A. Guenther and Mr. E.
Newton, in the Royal Society's volume on the Transit of Venus Expedition.

[163] See _Ibis_, 1877, p. 334.

[164] A common Indian and Malayan toad (_Bufo melanostictus_) has been
introduced into Mauritius and also some European toads, as I am informed by
Dr. Guenther.

[165] This brief account of the Madagascar flora has been taken from a very
interesting paper by the Rev. Richard Baron, F.L.S., F.G.S., in the
_Journal of the Linnean Society_, Vol. XXV., p. 246; where much information
is given on the distribution of the flora within the island.

[166] It may be interesting to botanists and to students of geographical
distribution to give here an enumeration of the endemic genera of the
_Flora of the Mauritius and the Seychelles_, as they are nowhere separately
tabulated in that work.

Aphloia (Bixaceae) 1 sp., a shrub, Maur., Rod., Sey., also
Madagascar.
Medusagyne (Ternstroemiaceae) 1 sp., a shrub, Seychelles.
Astiria (Sterculiaceae) 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius.
Quivisia (Meliaceae) 3 sp., shrubs, Mauritius (2 sp.),
Rodriguez (1 sp.), also Bourbon.
Cossignya (Sapindaceae) 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius, also Bourbon.
Hornea ,, 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius.
Stadtmannia ,, 1 sp., a shrub, Mauritius.
Doratoxylon ,, 1 sp., a shr