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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 
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