It follows from this that the B perforation must have been used for one or more of the printings made before this date. Now if we turn to the table of the consignments sent out to the island, we see that there had been in all five printings of both values. The first of these, that of March 27th, 1861, was the first issue, and, as we have said, it was perforated A. The second, that of July 22nd, 1862, was, as far as the Six Pence is concerned, incontestably perforated C, and there therefore only remains the printing of the One Penny of that date, and the three printings of both values of May 28th, 1863, March 1st, 1865, and March 14th, 1866. We think it more than probable that when the B machine was first used both values were perforated by it; and we therefore pass over the second printing of the One Penny, and give 1863 to 1866 as the date which most likely belongs to Issue 3. We are thus able to antedate this issue at least three years, all previous catalogues having given 1869 as the earliest date at which the B perforation made its appearance. It must not be inferred that after the B machine came into use the A machine was discarded, or even that any printing of either value was altogether perforated by the same machine. The perforation A is much too common in both values for it to be supposed for a moment that the first issue only was so perforated. There were in all seven printings of the One Penny, red, and five of the Six Pence, blue-green, on unwatermarked paper, perforated by one or other of these two machines; and as there is little or nothing to choose in point of rarity between the two perforations A and B in either value, it is to be presumed that once the B machine had come into use both machines were used indiscriminately for both values, as long as they continued to be printed. We are fortified in our opinion that more than one kind of perforation was used for the same printing, by the impossibility of believing that one whole printing of the One Penny, red, was perforated B × A. This variety is so scarce, that the number of specimens known to us can literally be counted on the fingers of one hand. About three years ago we unearthed two specimens from a dealer’s stock. These were mounted on a card, and endorsed as “very scarce” in the handwriting of the late Mr. E. L. Pemberton. Two other specimens are known to us, and all these four are used. It is not possible to believe that 18,000 of these ever existed, and that is the least number of the One Penny ever printed at one time. The Six Pence with the compound perforation is not known to us, but we think it is a variety that may possibly exist. The writer in the _Stamp Collector’s Magazine_, in referring to this compound, unfortunately does not specify the denomination of the stamp in which he had “occasionally” noticed it.