| 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 from the antarctic islands, when they were clothed with vegetation,
→before
the commencement of the
period. The affinity,
though feeble, I am assured by Dr. Hooker is real, between the flora of the south-western corner of Australia and of the Cape of Good Hope, is a far more remarkable
→and is at present inexplicable:
but this affinity is confined to the plants, and will,
→no doubt, be
some day
|
