Notes on the Bermudas. 149 



great luxuriance. Of tlie temperate products the cereals hold an 

 inconspicuous place. Formerly barley was much cultivated ; now 

 scarcely a patch is any where to be seen. Flour, the staple of life, is 

 imported entirely from the United States. Formerly the chief wealth 

 of a Bermudian planter consisted in his Cedar trees which were 

 cared for and guarded with religious reverence. Now this kind 

 of product is worth very little. It is only valuable for house and 

 ship-building purposes on the islands, the export is now compara- 

 tively trifling. The result of this revolution is that the laud fit 

 for cultivation is being gradually cleared, and the potato, the onion, 

 and Indian Corn, together with the world-famons Arrow-root;, 

 are taking the place of the Cedar, and now constitute the 

 chief wealth of the Bermudas. There is an annual spring expor- 

 tation of potatoes, tomatoes, and onions to the United States of 

 many thousand pounds value. Under proper management, with 

 a little more enterprise and outlay of capital, these islands might 

 also send to the States' market large quantities of sweet and bitter 

 oranges, figs and grapes of the best quality, peaches, and 

 even olives ; but at present little or no care is taken in the culti- 

 vation of these fruits, and as they are exposed to so many hazards 

 from which it requires skill and care to preserve them, they are 

 for the most part neglected. 



The land Fauna of these islands is comparatively limited, there 

 being no permanently running fresh water streams ; and with the 

 exception of rat?, mice, and a few rabbits, there are no quadrupeds 

 worth noting. The only noxious animal that is found here is the 

 Centipede, large individuals of which are frequently seen in old and 

 damp houses. There are moths, butterflies, fire-flies and coleoptera 

 in great abundance. The air in summer is vocal with the voice 

 of the Cicadae. Cockroaches, millepedes, spiders, ants, mosquitos, 

 fleas, (Pulex iritans and P. penetrans, oe the chigoe,) abound and are 

 somewhat troublesome. The Entomologist may find here a rich 

 field for investigation. A great variety of birds are to be met with 

 in Bermuda. A list of eighty-three has been compiled, but most 

 of them are but transient visitors. A few winter on the islands ; 

 the usual residents are few. With the exception of two accidental 

 stragglers which have been seen from the eastern hemisphere, 

 viz : The Wheatear (Saxicola Aenanthe) and the Corn Crake* 

 (Crex Pratensis,) all the others are common to North America^ 

 The constant residents are the Sylvia sialis or Blue Bird; the Or- 

 pheus Carolinensis, or Black Bird ; the Pitylus Cardinalus, or 



