Flora

Of 165 plant species found in Bermuda today, 14 are endemic, and 25 are endangered. When discovered, about 1505, the island's habitat was dominated by the remnant, old-growth forest of Bermuda Juniper (Juniperus bermudiana). Underwater archaeology of the caldera basin to the north shows that the area was once densely forested with junipers when it was above sea level. The juniper is an endemic species, though related to species found in North America. Its wood is an unusually deep red, indicative of the high iron content of the island's soil (which is similarly very red). Prior to human settlement, there were several million juniper trees in Bermuda. By the 1830s, large areas of Bermuda had been denuded by the shipbuilding industry. As that industry died out in the 19th century, however, the junipers rapidly recovered their numbers. By 1900, when the human population neared 20,000, the islands were again covered densely with juniper, although many of these were juvenile trees. The respite proved temporary, however. In the 1940s, it was realised that two species of scale insect, Lepidosaphes newsteadi and Carulaspis minima, had accidentally been introduced, and were rapidly killing off the junipers, which had no immunity to their toxicological effect. Attempts were made to control the infestation naturally, which involved the large-scale introduction of ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae), but these were to no avail. Over the next decade, roughly 8 million juniper trees were lost to the scales. Motor cars were legalised in Bermuda in 1948, as a result of changes wrought by World War II, and the resultant sprawl of the rapidly growing population (which had reached 60,000 by the 1980s) outward from the pre-war population centres happened simultaneously with the destruction of the forests. Unlike in the 19th century, many plant species that had been introduced, some, like the Casuarina, specifically to replace the windbreak lost with the juniper, spread virulently. The juniper grows slowly by comparison to many of the introduced species, and has been unable to thrive in the presence of Casuarina and Brazilian pepper trees. Efforts to restore it centre around intensively managed land areas, such as gardens and golf courses. Other large plant species, which were never as numerous as the juniper, had also fared poorly in the presence of invasive species, but have become popular with gardeners and their numbers also have increased in managed areas. These include two native species, the Bermuda olivewood (Elaeodendron laneanum), and the Bermuda palmetto (Sabal bermudana), the only native or endemic palm. In some coastal areas and inland marshes, Bermuda is the most northerly point at which mangrove trees are found. Smaller plants include many ferns. Notable among these is the rare Bermuda cave fern (Ctenitis sloanei). An even rarer fern, Diplazium laffanianum, no longer survives in the wild. Another native plant is the iris Bermudiana (Sisyrinchium bermudiana). This was thought to be endemic, but also appears in two locations in Ireland. Many of the smaller endemic and native plants of Bermuda are rare and endangered, but others have survived and prospered. The common Bermuda grass is not actually Bermudian, but a Mediterranean import.

Fauna

There were few species of land animal in Bermuda before the arrival of humans. The only vertebrate species was the Bermuda skink, or rock lizard (Eumeces longirostris). These were quite numerous, but have become rare due to predation by introduced species, and, especially, the introduction of glass bottles, in which they easily become trapped. Unlike the introduced anoles, their feet are unable to adhere to glass. Their range had been largely reduced to small islands of Castle Harbour, but they have re-colonised the mainland, and their numbers are increasing. The only other large land animals found on the island were crustaceans, notably two species of land crab, including the rare giant land crab (Cardisoma quantami). Insects included the endemic, ground-burrowing solitary bee, which has not been observed for several decades and is believed extinct. The native cicada also became extinct with the loss of the juniper forest. Other native insects survive, including the migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), which has become threatened due to the loss of milkweed, which has been eradicated as a weed. The most numerous animals were, and are, birds. Several native species are related to North American species, including the eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis), and the white-eyed vireo (Vireo griseus bermudianus). Both of these were common, but have suffered from loss of habitat, from competition for nest sites with introduced house sparrows (Passer domesticus), and nest-predation by European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) and great kiskadees (Pitangus sulphuratus) - this last species was deliberately introduced as late as 1957, with the intent that it would control the previously introduced anoles. Other native birds, including the grey catbird, have suffered from the same causes. The most famous Bermudian bird is the endemic Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow), or cahow. This is a pelagic seabird which had dug burrows for its nests. Humans are believed to have killed millions of them after settlement began in 1609, and feral pigs, introduced presumably by Spaniards decades before, also attacked their nests. Before the 17th century was over, the cahow was believed to be extinct. After sightings of the bird at sea, a young Bermudian, David B. Wingate, theorised cahows might still be nesting on rocky islets of Castle Harbour. He visited these islets with ornithologists Robert Cushman Murphy and Louis S. Mowbray in 1951 and discovered a handful of nesting pairs. Under Wingate's supervision, a conservation programme has steadily increased the cahow's numbers. Species that arrived by natural dispersion and become native after human settlement include the barn owl (Tyto alba), and the mourning dove (Zenaida macroura).

The early colony

A 1676 map of the Somers Isles (Bermuda) by John Speed, based on the map of surveyor Richard Norwood

Subdivisions of Bermuda

When settled, in the 17th century, first by the Virginia Company, then by its spin-off, the Somers Isles Company, Bermuda was divided into nine equally sized administrative areas. These comprised one public territory (known as St. George's) and eight "tribes" (soon retitled as "parishes"). These "tribes" were subdivided into lots, separated by narrow tribe roads (supposedly created by clearing the path of a barrel rolled from the south to north shores). These roads served both to demarcate the boundaries of lots, and also as access routes to the shoreline, as the primary method of transport about Bermuda would remain by boat for the next three centuries. Each of the lots equated to shares in the company. Each of the tribes was named for a major "adventurer" (shareholder) of the Company. Most were nobles, who used the toponyms of their titles, hence most of the parishes bear place names from England, Scotland, or Wales: Devonshire (for William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire, 1552–1626), Hamilton (for James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton, 1589–1625), Pembroke (for William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, 1580–1630), Southampton (for Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, 1573–1624), and Warwick (for Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, 1587–1658). The others are Paget (for William Paget, 4th Baron Paget de Beaudesert, 1572–1629), Sandys (for Sir Edwin Sandys, 1561–1629), and Smith's (for Sir Thomas Smith, 1588–1625). Hamilton Parish was originally named Bedford, after Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford, who sold her shares to the Scottish nobleman, James Hamilton. Devonshire Parish had originally been named Cavendish Tribe. The short-lived use of the word "tribes" for administrative regions appears to have been unique to the Bermuda example. The ninth parish was common (or King's, or general) land, not subdivided by tribe roads, and was named for the patron saint of England, Saint George. It includes the island and the town both of the same name.

Nomenclature

Bermudian convention, where a toponym contains the name of a person, is to render the person's name in the possessive form. The place is rarely treated as equivalent to the person.

Among many examples of such place names in Bermuda are St. David's Island, Bailey's Bay, Sandys' Parish (named for Sir Edwin Sandys), Skeeters' Island (often mistakenly rendered "Skeeter's Island", it is named for Edward Skeeters and is also known as Burt's Island),^[10][11] Gibb's Hill, Barr's Bay, Ackermann's Hill, Nelly's Island, Cooper's Island, Darrell's Island, Paynter's Vale, Abbot's Head (or Abbot's Cliff),^[12] and Fort St. Catherine's. The possessive form is also used for titles, as with Collector's Hill (named for the Collector of Taxes).

The use of the possessive form is not exclusive, however, as exemplified by place names such as the names of most of the parishes (which - other than St. George's Parish - all commemorate historical people), such as Hamilton Parish (named for James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton), Devonshire Parish (named for), and Paget Parish. Some of these exceptions may have originated with changed syntax, as Devonshire Parish may originally have been The Parish of Devonshire. This is seen with the City of Hamilton (named for Henry Hamilton, a former Governor of Bermuda). Whereas the City of Hamilton is commonly referred to as Hamilton, The Town of St. George, St. George's Parish, St. George's Island, and St. George's Harbour (and any other toponym usually containing a person's name in the possessive form) always remains possessive when shortened, such as in the St. George's Foundation.^[13]