FLORA OF BERMUDA 
187 
with it. The old records speak of thousands of palmetto trees 
that were cut down, and of cedars used for the construction 
of ships and buildings. The palmetto (Sabal blackburniana) 
is a species of palm much like that of southern Florida, but 
differing sufficiently to form a distinct species. All the islands 
were once thickly covered with the cedar (Juniperus bermu- 
diana), and it also occurs in a semi-fossil condition in the 
red earth. Among the one hundred and fifty six kinds of land 
plants now considered native to Bermuda, about fifty species 
are very restricted in their distribution, most of them being of 
West Indian origin. Altogether one hundred and eighteen 
species are native of the West Indies. Of these ninety are 
also found in Florida, the remainder being only met with in 
the West Indies. About the same number of plants as are 
common to Bermuda and the West Indies only, are also 
peculiar to Bermuda and continental North America. A few, 
such as the blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bermudianum), 
have their nearest relatives in the north-eastern States. Most 
of the botanists who have investigated the Bermuda flora, 
especially Mr. ITemsley, Mr. Moseley and more recently Pro¬ 
fessor S. Brown, Dr. Harshberger and Professor Verrill * are 
agreed that all the native plants of the island have been intro¬ 
duced by natural agencies prior to the advent of man. Pro¬ 
fessor Verrill is of opinion, and I feel sure his view is 
almost generally accepted, that migratory birds have prob¬ 
ably always been the chief agencies for these introductions 
of plants, especially those from north-eastern North America. 
Currents, floating timber and hurricanes are also supposed 
to have had their share in transporting plants from various 
parts of America to Bermuda. I am among the few* who do not 
recognise the potency of these agencies of transport. That 
seeds are occasionally cast by currents upon the shores of 
lonely islands like Bermuda has been amply proved, but there 
is no evidence available to show that migratory birds distribute 
seeds on s;uch islands, or that hurricanes carry seeds across 
seven hundred miles of sea and safely deposit them on an 
island. These theories are very widely accepted, but I think 
on insufficient grounds. 
Verrill, A. E., “ Bermuda Islands,” XI., pp. 587—588. 
