the Bermuda land snail.

In and of themselves, the stories, reported in meticulous detail by Patrick Burgess, may not seem important. What difference do a bunch of snails -- dead or alive -- make to the person with bills to pay, mouths to feed and deadlines to meet? Yet the Bermuda land snail was and is important. First, it demonstrated Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Rather than one single breed of snail, "Poecilozonites'' evolved into a range of breeds, each uniquely adapted to its own environment. As such, the snail's history contained at least part of the secret to all our lives.

Secondly, the evolution of the snails took thousands of years. Its apparent extinction has taken just decades, and therein lies a cautionary tale for Bermuda.

Islands, scientist Stephen Jay Gould notes, are among the most valuable places in the world because of their biodiversity. Because of Bermuda's isolation, it is a home to rare and unique forms of life which make the world a richer place.

Yet man's actions, more than any other predator, can be disastrous for these unique breeds. In 1958, to combat the spread of another introduced snail, the Euglandina snail was introduced and promptly ate, not the snail it was supposed to, but the native and harmless land snail. Certainly, this was a tragedy for the land snail, and it was depressing for the scientists like Dr.

Gould who studied them. Not surprisingly, it received little notice in the wider community.

That's a shame because it should have raised awareness of the risks of introducing "natural predators''. Well-meaning efforts to stamp out one pest can result in disastrous consequences elsewhere.

This hard lesson can be applied to other areas as well. Well-meaning efforts to eliminate alcohol in the United States in the 1920s had the unintended consequence of creating the world of organised crime and an era of spectacular lawlessness. Efforts to improve the facilities and quality of education for all Bermudians has had the effect of driving many parents and many of the best public school students to private education -- and that was surely not the original intention.

The lesson of the lowly land snail which Bermuda needs to remember is that every action has a reaction, but it may not be the one that was intended.

Different people can take different meanings from the story. The naturally conservative could take it as an argument for changing nothing. Those who resent "foreign experts'' and expatriates may see parallels to today's immigration problems and will have ammunition for the belief that Bermudian problems need home grown solutions. Anti-isolationists could say that this is what will happen to Bermuda if it does not prepare for the onslaught of global competition and "predatory'' financiers from overseas.

All may be right. But the moral of the tale is that there are no easy answers or panaceas to complex problems. One idea on its own will not solve anything and could make it worse. There is no substitute for serious research, rational thinking and looking before you leap.