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centorythepopulationsof giant'tortoises were devast,ated, to the extent t,hat by1787 only6000-8000 were left on the granitic islands. During a t,hree year period, no less than 13,000 were removed on ships. A t the time, they were the chief export of the Seychelles. In Aldabra, the population fell t'o about 1000 individuals a t the beginning of t,he twentieth century. It may bementioned that in 1874. c. DaRwIN, T. H. HUXLEY, J. HOOKES and other naturalists voiced their concern about the survival of the species in a memorandum to the Governor of Mauritius. Nevertheless, according t.o trade reports between 1922 and 1976, a tots1 of 1117 tortoises were legally exported. Similar data are recorded for sea turtles. From 1893 to 1968, about, 45,000 shells of ETetmocRelys imbricntn were export,ed. From 1906 for about a decade about 3000 turt,les of Ghelonia mydas were taken on Aldabra. Fortunately, in 1968 the taking of Green Turtle became illegal,a,nd this has progressed to the protection of whole habitats and to the integrated conservation measures of the present dity.-Wirith the long lists of references and the indices, this monograph is an eminent example of a biological analysis of the many habitats in a long-iso1at.e.d group of islands. However, as STOD-DART msntions in the introduction t,o the coral reef section, these reefs "are still among the least well-known, though most extensive, of the reefs of the world". No Seychelles reefs have yet been the subject of sustained investigations. . . . in spite of studies of several groups of reef invertebrates t he Pleistocene reefs of Aldabra remain better known than t,heir modern counterparts". Ma,y be this rnonograph will encourage biologist,s to fill this information gap.