| → I believe this grand fact can receive 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| Facts such as these, admit of 1869 1872 |
|
| → whether 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| from America, whether 1872 |
|
| → by 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| (though I do not believe in this doctrine) by 1872 |
|
| → other near 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| the nearest 1869 |
| the nearest large 1872 |
|
| → the plants of 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| although 1869 1872 |
|
| → are 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| the plants are 1869 1872 |
|
| → were long ago partially stocked 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| have been partially stocked 1869 |
| have been stocked in part 1872 |
|
|
height, and size of the islands, between the Galapagos and Cape de Verde
but what an entire and absolute difference in their inhabitants! The inhabitants of the Cape de Verde Islands are related to those of Africa, like those of the Galapagos to America.
→I believe this grand fact can receive
no sort of explanation on the ordinary view of independent
whereas on the view here maintained, it is obvious that the Galapagos Islands would be likely to receive
→whether
by occasional means of
or
→by
formerly continuous land,
the Cape de Verde Islands from Africa;
such colonists would be liable to
the principle of inheritance still betraying their original birthplace. |
|
| Many analogous facts could be given: indeed it is an almost universal rule that the endemic productions of islands are related to those of the nearest continent, or of
→other near
The exceptions are few, and most of them can be explained. Thus
→the plants of
Kerguelen
nearer to Africa than to America,
→are
related, and that very closely, as we know from Dr. Hooker's account, to those of America: but on the view that this island has been mainly stocked by seeds brought with earth and stones on icebergs, drifted by the prevailing currents, this anomaly disappears. New Zealand in its endemic plants is much more closely related to Australia, the nearest mainland, than to any other region: and this is what might have been expected; but it is also plainly related to South America, which, although the next nearest continent, is so enormously remote, that the fact becomes an anomaly. But this difficulty
disappears on the view that
New Zealand, South America, and
southern lands
→were long ago partially stocked
from a nearly intermediate though distant point, namely
|
