4io 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



It is by no means certain, however, that these rats had not long 

 existed on the islands, even though an earlier writer — Silvanus Jour- 

 dan, says (1G10) : 



The countrey (foreasmuch as I could finde myself, or heare by others) 

 affords no venimous creature or so much as a Rat or a mouse, or any other 

 thing unwholesome. 



Whales, which were once of some commercial importance to the 

 islands, are so rare that the} 7 are no longer hunted, and the ' whale 

 houses,' of which there were recently half a dozen in existence, are 

 but relics of an industry that has practically ceased. 



The greater part of the 150 or more birds mentioned by Major 

 Wedderburn (Jones: 'The Naturalist in Bermuda') as found in 

 the Bermudas, are migrants. The most conspicuous and interesting 



Fig. 12. Tropic Bikds. I'hotograph by A. H. Verrill. 



of them is the tropic or boatswain bird (Fig. 12), which still con- 

 tinues to nest here, usually on the more remote and inaccessible islands. 

 The only representative of the Amphibia is the great Surinam toad 

 (Bufo agaa), which was introduced into Bermuda some twenty- five 

 or thirty years ago by Captain Nathaniel Vesey to combat insect pests. 

 I Avas fortunate enough during my first visit to the islands to find 

 several of these toads spawning on the morning of April 22. There 



