474 Dr. Nugent on the Geology of the Island of Barbuda . 
which probably dissolves these substances in the crop, and thus re- 
moves the distention they had occasioned. The astonishing quantity 
in the land puzzles me. I know of no insect sufficiently abundant 
to produce them in such vast quantity ; the ant and the musquito 
are the only insects whose number bear any proportion to these 
little substances.” 
APPENDIX II. 
The following notice on the Island of Barbuda is extracted from a 
letter to G. B. Green ough, Esq. from Dr. Nugent, dated April 
28, 1818, and is here subjoined , as connected with his description 
of the Island of Antigua . 
“ I send herewith specimens of a compact white limestone from 
the Island of Barbuda. It abounds with fossil shells, belonging 
principally to a small species of bulla. Other shells also occur in it 
less abundantly, of which the following genera have been ascer- 
tained : viz. Area, Cardium, Oliva, Turritella, Voluta, Strombus ; 
also two species of Madrepore. 
This island is perfectly flat, and scarcely elevated above the level 
of the sea, except in one corner, where it rises to the height of 117 
feet. It is entirely composed of limestone, which, for the most part, 
is perfectly naked and bare, whilst in no place is the depth of soil 
greater than two or three snakes, and this is lodged generally in the 
clifts, or cup-like cavities, worn in the surface. There is a great 
deal of brush wood and copse in the island, the roots being quite 
superficial, or growing in the crevices of the rock. Its general 
