20 BERMUDA. 



that the most externally placed animals have a great advantage 

 in procuring food over those placed behind them or in the 

 centre of the area. 



The scenery of Bermuda is in some respects not unlike that 

 of northern lake districts, for the numerous small islands which 

 are dotted over the sounds and land-locked sheets of water are 

 covered with vegetation down to the water's edge. The dark 

 colour of the juniper trees {/uniperus barbadensts), called in 

 the island " cedar," the prevailing foliage, not unlike that of 

 pines in appearance, gives the landscape a northern aspect, 

 and on cloudy days the island, as viewed from the sea, looks 

 cold and bleak. Only the extreme lowness of all the land is 

 characteristic and distinctive. Next conspicuous to the juniper 

 as a general feature in the vegetation, is probably the oleander, 

 which having been introduced, flourishes everywhere. A large 

 portion of the uncultivated land is covered with a dense 

 growth of another introduced plant, Lantatia camera, a most 

 troublesome weed. 



The most refreshing and beautiful vegetation in Bermuda is 

 that growing in the marshes and caves. The marshes or peat 

 bogs lie in the inland hollows between two ranges of hills. 

 These bogs are covered with a tall luxuriant growth of ferns, 

 especially two species of Osmunda {O. cinnamoviea and O. 

 regalis). Some ferns are restricted to particular marshes. In 

 some Acrostichuni auretan grows densely to a height of from 4 

 to 5 feet. Together with the ferns grow the juniper which 

 thrives in the marshes, and a Palmetto, which gives a pleasing 

 variety to the foliage. 



The peat of these marshes is mainly composed of the debris 

 of the rhizomes of the ferns and roots and bases of the sedges, 

 especially of one very large species of Cladium. A bog moss 

 grows in the marshes, but is not abundant enough to take 

 much share in the peat formation. The peat burns well, and 

 has very much the appearance of ordinary home peat. The 

 stems of junipers are occasionally found in it in good preserva- 

 tion, and of larger size than any now growing on the island. 

 The formation of peat at sea level in so warm a climate seems 

 very unusual. Darwin has dwelt on the peculiar conditions of 

 climate necessary to the formation of peat. In South America 

 and the Falkland Islands, as here, the peat is formed by the 

 slow decomposition of plants other than mosses.* 



I have referred to the falling in of the roofs of caves. At 

 the mouths of nearly all the caves are hollows with steep rocky 

 sides, produced by the falling in of former extensions of the 



* Darwin, "Journal of Researches." 2nd Ed. London, J. Murray, 

 1845, P- 287. 



