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3 4 4 THE ATLANTIC. [ c h a p . iv .
Papaw-trees {Carica papaya) are seen everywhere,
f IG. sr.—Papaw -trees (Carica papaiju), in the garden a t Clarence Hill. (From a photograph.)
male and female, round the cottages (Fig. 87); but
tlie fruit is not much esteemed.
CHAP. IV.] ST. THOMAS TO BERMUDAS. 3 4 5
The climate of Bermudas is very g e n ia l; the mean
annual temperature is 21° C., while th a t of Madeira,
in almost exactly the same latitude, is 18° C. This
difference of 3° 0. is due partly to the prevalence at
Bermudas of south-west winds blowing directly over
the super-heated reflux of the equatorial current, and
partly to the position of the islands within the region
of the hanked-down warm water of the Gulf Stream.
The temperature of the coldest month (17°'2 C.) is,
however, somewhat lower at Bermudas than at
Madeira (17°‘8 C.), while th a t of the warmest month
is considerably higher (22° to 26° C.). This greater
sumrner-heat, telling upon the flowering and the
ripening of the seeds of plants, gives the flora of
Bermudas a more tropical character th an th a t of
Madeira, and this is undoubtedly increased hy the
circumstance th a t while the vegetation of Madeira
and the other ‘ Atlantic islands,’ the Agores and the
Canaries, appears to he to a great degree an extension
of th a t of Southern Europe, th a t of Bermudas,
if we except a large numher of introduced plants, is
in the main derived from the West Indies and the
south of North America.
The fauna of Bermudas is singularly poor. There
are no wild mammals except the rats and mice which
have been imported with foreign produce. Ouly
about half a dozen land-birds breed on the islands,
and all of these are common North American species ;
probably the most ahnndant and most widely distributed
are the American crow {Corvus americanus),
and a, pretty quaker-coloured little ground dove
{Chamoipelia passerina). Many American birds are
annual visitors; Ave saAV during our stay tAvo at least
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