158 



CHAPTER II 



Among records given for 1618 by Sir Richard Whitbourne, acting as Commis- 

 sioner of Vice- Admiralty, in order to illustrate various disorders committed in the 

 Newfoundland ports, was: "Harbours frequented by English near 40 in number, 

 almost spoiled by casting out their balast and presse stones into them". 



The quotations above show sufficiently that ballast was brought to Newfoundland 

 in great quantities , at least in the 17th and 18th centuries, and that as a rule it 

 was delivered on the shore. It is easily understood that this procedure involved 

 the best imaginable chances for fruits and seeds of plants, as well as for all kinds 

 of animals associated with the soil, to be carried across the Atlantic.^ This has 

 already been clearly realized by W. J. Brown (1940, 1950). 



Those harbours of Newfoundland in the first line affected by the conditions 

 just described were of course the oldest ones, which in a remarkable way were 

 concentrated to the eastern coast (map, fig. 15). Apparently St. John's, the present 

 capital of the country, predestined by its sheltered position, was the most frequented 

 port even in the 16th centjry {vide for instance Prowse, 1895, pp. 70,72, 113; 

 Rogers, 1911, pp. 19, 23, 25, 26) though probably it was not the first place to be 

 permanently settled. Fishing-trade and settlement were almost exclusively con- 

 centrated to the Avalon Peninsula, including the first French colony, Placentia, on 

 its western shore. This lead of the Avalon has been kept ever since and at present 

 it houses about 45 per cent of the population. In accordance herewith the fauna 

 and flora of this part of the island contains a larger European element than any 

 other district in North America. As already mentioned above (p. 147), this is 

 evident in the case of Carabid beetles (map, fig. 11), of which 19 introduced species 

 occur on the east coast of Avalon; four of them are confined to this part of the island 

 [Bembidion lampros Hbst., Pristonychus terricola Hbst., Pterostichus melanarius 111., 

 P. streuuus Panz.). In the Iso-Myriapods, 20 introduced species (54 per cent of this 

 element in Newfoundland) are restricted to the Avalon Peninsula. 



Two isolated, early colonized parts of Newfoundland are the twin islands St. 

 Pierre-Miquelon, settled by the French about 1670 and still in French possession, 

 and the islands Twillinggate and Fogo in the northeast, colonized about 1700. 

 Both areas show faunal vestiges of a direct connection with Europe: on Fogo- 

 Twillinggate the isolated occurrence of the Carabid beetles Bembidion tetracolum 

 Say {ustulatmn auctt.) (fig. 12) and Clivina fossor L. (fig. 13), both in the short- 



^ It seems reasonable to assume that the isolated occurrence of certain European Molluscs 

 on small islands off the coast of Avalon can be explained by the fact that sailing-vessels 

 arriving from Europe, especially at low tide, used to discharge their ballast here before 

 entering the port of destination on the mainland of the Peninsula. Brooks & Brooks (1940, 

 p. 58 a. f.) regarded these species as old relicts on the small islands in question, a rather 

 adventurous hypothesis, which does not explain why the species concerned occur in 

 Europe. 



