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. Hemsley, Mr. Moseley and more recently Pro- 

 fessor S. Brown, Dr. Harshberger and Prof essor Yerrill * 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 rthe 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 siuch 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. 587588. 



