414 A. E. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands. 
the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, viz. Messrs. C. M. 
Cook, Jr., Clarence 8S. Verrill, and Wm. E. Porter, who did most excel- 
lent and valuable work in helping me to gather very large collections; 
and another expedition, made in the spring of 1901, with my son, A. 
Hyatt Verrill, who not only made large collections, but also made 
numerous colored drawings of the soft-bodied marine forms, and 
about 200 excellent photographs, both geological and zodlogical, 
including numerous photographs of living animals beneath the water, 
and of living birds in their natural haunts. For a short time we 
were joined by Dr. W. G. Van Name, who devoted himself mainly 
to the Tunicata, and has since published a monograph of them. 
Besides the two large collections, made by myself and parties, I 
have had for study, during many years, collections made by Messrs. 
J. Matthew Jones, G. Brown Goode, and others. 
For historical subjects, I have consulted numerous works,* and 
have quoted verbatim from some of them, when it seemed desirable 
to preserve the éxact wording and quaint spelling of the early writers. 
The Memorials of Bermuda, by Governor Lefroy, 2 volumes, 1877, 
is by far the most important work for the early history of the islands, 
and I have quoted from it freely. 
In some respects the Bermuda Islands are almost unique. Very 
few other islands, of similar size and situated in a favorable climate, 
were destitute of aborigines when discovered by Europeans. Appar- 
ently man had never set foot on the Bermudas until they were 
discovered by the Spaniards, about 1510. The number of species of 
land animals and plants peculiar to the Bermudas is unusually small 
for islands of this character. No other islands situated so far from 
the equator are surrounded by living coral-reefs, and the hills of 
drifted and hardened shell-sand are unusually high for such a 
formation. 
The outer reefs, with their enclosed lagoons, resemble the coral 
islands or atolls of the Pacific, but they are not of the same nature. 
They are the eroded remains of limestone islands, once of large size 
and considerable height, like those still left, but much larger. They 
may, therefore, be called pseudatolls. 
During recent years these islands have been much visited by 
Americans, during the winter and spring months, either for health or 
pleasure, or both. This is partly due to the fact that they have 
become much better known than formerly, and perhaps still more to 
* For the titles of the more important historical works, see the Bibliography, 
at the end of this work. 
