generally last about eight hours, but they appear to be less frequent and violent than in former times, owing, it is thought, to the destruction of the ancient forests and the consequent drier condition of the atmosphere. _Fauna and Flora._--Mauritius being an oceanic island of small size, its present fauna is very limited in extent. When first seen by Europeans it contained no mammals except a large fruit-eating bat (_Pteropus vulgaris_), which is plentiful in the woods; but several mammals have been introduced, and are now numerous in the uncultivated region. Among these are two monkeys of the genera _Macacus_ and _Cercopithecus_, a stag (_Cervus hippelaphus_), a small hare, a shrew-mouse, and the ubiquitous rat. A lemur and one of the curious hedgehog-like _Insectivora_ of Madagascar (_Centetes ecaudatus_) have probably both been brought from the larger island. The avifauna resembles that of Madagascar; there are species of a peculiar genus of caterpillar shrikes (_Campephagidae_), as well as of the genera _Pratincola_, _Hypsipetes_, _Phedina_, _Tchitrea_, _Zosterops_, _Foudia_, _Collocalia_ and _Coracopsis_, and peculiar forms of doves and parakeets. The living reptiles are small and few in number. The surrounding seas contain great numbers of fish; the coral reefs abound with a great variety of molluscs; and there are numerous land-shells. The extinct fauna of Mauritius has considerable interest. In common with the other Mascarene islands, it was the home of the dodo (_Didus ineptus_); there were also _Aphanapteryx_, a species of rail, and a short-winged heron (_Ardea megacephala_), which probably seldom flew. The defenceless condition of these birds led to their extinction after the island was colonized. Considerable quantities of the bones of the dodo and other extinct birds--a rail (_Aphanapteryx_), and a short-winged heron--have been discovered in the beds of some of the ancient lakes (see DODO). Several species of large fossil tortoises have also been discovered; they are quite different from the living ones of Aldabra, in the same zoological region.