84 - 
HISTORY OF THE [book, iii. 
APPENDIX TO CHAP. II. OF BOOK HI. 
CONTAINING 
Observations on the Sugar Ants in the Island of Grenada; 
extracted from a letter of John Castles , Esq. to Ge¬ 
neral Melville: read before the Royal Society in May 
1790. 
T HE sugar ants, so called from their ruinous effects on 
sugar cane, are supposed to have first made their ap¬ 
pearance in Grenada about the year 1770, on a sugar plan¬ 
tation at Petit Havre; a bay five or six miles from the town 
of St. George, the capital, conveniently situated for smug¬ 
gling from Martinico: it was therefore concluded, they 
were brought from thence in some vessel employed in that 
trade, which is very probable, as colonies of them in like 
manner were afterwards propagated in different parts of the 
island by droghers, or vessels employed in carrying stores, 
&c. from one part of the island to another. 
From thence they continued to extend themselves on all 
sides for several years destroying in succession every sugar 
plantation between St. George's and St. John’s, a space of 
about twelve miles. At the same time, colonies of them be¬ 
gan to be observed in different parts of the island, particular¬ 
ly at Duquesne on the north, and Calavini on the south side 
of it. 
