324 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 



Native Butterflies found in the Bermudas : — 

 Danais archippus. 

 Danais berenice. 



Vanesse atalanta. 



Vanesse ccenia. 



Cynthia curdui. 



INSECTA. 



October lotk, 1848. — During the last seven summers this 

 part of Bermuda has been infested with Ants to a fearful 

 degree ; not only did they teem on the streets and high- 

 ways, so as to render it impossible to walk without 

 destroying numbers, but hill and dale, and even the 

 dwellings of men were equally alive with this insect pest. 



Dense columns of them might be seen travelling up and 

 down every tree, and great was the havoc they occasioned 

 among young Pigeons and Poultry, nor did the full-grown 

 domestic rabbit escape their deadly attack, and pigs are 

 sometimes destroyed by them. 



In the present summer we have happily escaped this 

 enormous nuisance, the legions of Ants being reduced 

 within reasonable bounds. The cause of this extraordinary 

 decrease is entirely unknown to me. 



There are two species of Ant in the Bermudas — the one 

 very small, and supposed to be a native insect ; the other 

 {Formica) larger, and said to be an importation from the 

 West Indies. The latter prevails in Hamilton and the sur- 

 rounding neighbourhood, where the former has disappeared. 



If we bear in mind the original formation of the Ber- 

 mudas, it must be evident that no insect can be indigenous 

 to them. 



Every housekeeper, every gardener, and all dealers in 



