58 THE BOTANY OF BERMUDA. 
sometimes covers the entire surface of the shoots and large portions of 
the leaves. The writer often had them brushed off small trees; and the 
twigs and leaves well syringed, to their great advantage, but a few 
weeks brought them back, and no systematic attempt is made to keep 
down this plague, which is equally injurious to several other trees; for 
example, the Eugenia, the Avocada Pear—even the Oycas and the 
Yucca. The creature, in fact, seems capable of deriving nourishment 
from the leaves or tender bark of nearly every description of plant. 
The insect form is entirely obliterated in the old females, which become 
mere shells full of eggs. The writer once found a negro engaged in 
laying bare the roots of some orange trees on Trunk Island, and learned 
that his object was to apply in some way whale oil to them. In general, 
however, the trees are suffered to run wild, little care is taken to prune 
them, or to cut out dead wood, or to free branches which intersect, ex- 
coriate, and choke each other, and few young trees are planted. On 
all these accounts Bermuda can never rival Florida, where the orange 
is now grown on the largest scale of farming, with all the resources 
of horticultural skill; but the fruit might be much more abundant than 
it is for the benefit of the inhabitants. 
The Bermuda Company sent out orange, lemon, and citron seeds 
in 1616.* In 1621 the governor was able to refresh a shipwrecked 
party with the fruit,} and from 1634 we find examples of rents paid in 
oranges and lemons.t Sir W. Reid, among his many beneficial meas- 
ures, procured great quantities of young plants for distribution from 
Madeira about 1846, and bore strong testimony to the excellent quality 
of the fruit of the island growth. 
Triphasia trifoliata, DC. 
To be found as a low creeping bush in some gardens. Introduced. 
Murraya exotica, Linn. Martinique Laurel. 
A very ornamental shrub, not uncommon in gardens. Introduced 
from West Indies. 
Cookia punctata, Retz. Wampee. 
In a few gardens. Introduced by Governor Elliot. 
XXXI.—MELIACE @. 
Melia Azedarach, Linn. Pride of India; in the United States, Pride of 
China. 
A short-lived tree, worthless as timber, but valuable for shade and 
Tp 7, tI, p. 158. tI, p. 405. 
