Origin of Species Variorum

→ OMIT 1866 1869 1872

as suggested by Lyell; 1859 1860 1861

→ OMIT 1866 1869 1872

the species of 1859 1860 1861

→ species in the other Atlantic islands which stand 1866

plants of other oceanic islands 1859 1860 1861

species in the other islands of the Atlantic, which stand 1869

species on the other islands of the Atlantic, which stand 1872

→ OMIT 1866 1869 1872

of the flora 1859 1860 1861

one part to another of the arctic and

antaretic

antarctic

regions,

regions;

→OMIT and during the Glacial period from one part of the now temperate regions to another. In the Azores, from the large number of →OMIT plants common to Europe, in comparison with the →species in the other Atlantic islands which stand nearer to the mainland, and (as remarked by Mr. H. C. Watson) from

the

their

somewhat northern character →OMIT in comparison with the latitude, I suspected that these islands had been partly stocked by ice-borne seeds, during the Glacial epoch. At my request Sir C. Lyell wrote to

Mr.

Hartung to inquire whether he had observed erratic boulders on these islands, and he answered that he had found large fragments of granite and other rocks, which do not occur in the archipelago. Hence we may safely infer that icebergs formerly landed their rocky burthens on the shores of these mid-ocean islands, and it is at least possible that they may have brought thither

some few

the

seeds of northern plants.

Considering that

the

these

several

above

....

means of transport, and that

~~several~~

several

other means, which without doubt remain to be discovered, have been in action year after

year

year,

for

centuries and

....

tens of thousands of years, it

would,

would

think,

think

be a marvellous fact if many plants had not thus become widely transported. These means of transport are

sometimes

some-times

called accidental, but this is not strictly correct: the currents of the sea are not

accidental

accidental,

nor is the direction of prevalent gales of wind. It should be observed that scarcely any means of transport would carry seeds for very great

distances:

distances;

for seeds do not retain their vitality when exposed for a great length of time to the action of sea-water; nor could they be long carried in the crops or intestines of birds. These means, however, would suffice for occasional transport across tracts of sea some hundred miles in breadth, or from island to island,