and is probably the land-vertebrate of most restricted distribution
on the globe.

On the same island there is a small lizard, _Scelotes bojeri_, recorded
also from Mauritius and Bourbon, though it appears to be rare in both
islands; but a gecko, _Phelsuma guentheri_, is restricted to the island. As
Round Island is connected with Mauritius by a bank under a hundred fathoms
below the surface, it has probably been once joined to it, and when first
separated would have been both much larger and much nearer the main island,
circumstances which would greatly facilitate the transmission of these
reptiles to their present dwelling-place, where they have been able to
maintain themselves owing to the complete absence of competition, while
some of them have become extinct in the larger island.

_Flora of Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands._--The botany of the great
island of Madagascar has been perhaps more thoroughly explored than that of
the opposite coasts of Africa, so that its peculiarities may not be really
so great as they now appear to be. Yet there can be no doubt of its extreme
richness and grandeur, its remarkable speciality, and its anomalous
external relations. It is characterised by a great abundance of
forest-trees and shrubs of peculiar genera or species, and often adorned
with magnificent flowers. Some of these are allied to African forms, others
to those of Asia, and it is said that of the two affinities the latter
preponderates. But there are also, as in the animal world, some decided
South {440} American relations, while other groups point to Australia, or
are altogether isolated.

No less than 3,740 flowering plants are now known from Madagascar with 360
ferns and fern-allies. The most abundant natural orders are the following:

Species.
Leguminosae 346
Ferns 318
Compositae 281
Euphorbiaceae 228
Orchideae 170
Cyperaceae 160
Rubiaceae 147
Acanthaceae 131
Gramineae 130

The flora contains representatives of 144 natural orders and 970 genera,
one of the former and 148 of the latter being peculiar to the island. The
peculiar order, Chaelnaceae, comprises seven genera and twenty-four
species; while Rubiaceae and Compositae have the largest number of peculiar
genera, followed by Leguminosae and Melastomaceae. Nearly three-fourths of
the species are endemic.

Beautiful flowers are not