almost every product of the land and
→water
bears the unmistakeable stamp of the American continent. There are twenty-six
→or, perhaps, twenty-three, of
→are ranked
as distinct species,
→and are supposed
to have been
yet the close affinity of most of these birds to American species
→in
every character, in their habits, gestures, and tones of
So it is with the other animals, and with
→a large proportion of
the plants, as shown by Dr. Hooker in his admirable
→OMIT
Flora of this archipelago. The naturalist, looking at the inhabitants of these volcanic islands in the Pacific, distant several hundred miles from the continent,
feels that he is standing on American land. Why should this be so? why should the species which are supposed to have been created in the Galapagos Archipelago, and nowhere else, bear so
stamp of affinity to those created in America? There is nothing in the conditions of life, in the geological nature of the islands, in their height or climate, or in the proportions in which the several classes are associated together, which
the conditions of the South American coast: in
there is a considerable dissimilarity in all
respects. On the other hand, there is a considerable degree of resemblance in the
nature of the soil, in
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
|