principle of tracing out the more recondite causes of the distribution of
organisms, we will briefly indicate the scope and object of the several
chapters, by means of which this general conception has been carried out.
Beginning with simple and familiar facts relating to British and European
quadrupeds and birds, I have defined and shown the exact character of
"areas of distribution," as applied to species, genera, and families, and
have illustrated the subject by maps showing the peculiarities of
distribution of some well-known groups of birds. Taking then our British
mammals and land-birds, I follow them over the whole area they inhabit, and
thus obtain a foundation for the establishment of "zoological regions," and
a clear insight into their character as distinct from the usual
geographical divisions of the globe.
The facts thus far established are then shown to be necessary results of
the "law of evolution." The nature and amount of "variation" is exhibited
by a number of curious examples; the origin, growth, and decay of species
and genera are traced, and all the interesting phenomena of isolated groups
and discontinuous generic and specific areas are shown to follow as logical
consequences.
The next subject investigated is the means by which the various groups of
animals are enabled to overcome the natural barriers which often seem to
limit them to very restricted areas, how far those barriers are themselves
liable to be altered or abolished, and what is the exact nature and amount
of the changes of sea and land which our earth has undergone in past times.
This latter part of the inquiry is shown to be the most important as it is
the most fundamental; and as it is still a subject of controversy, and many
erroneous views prevail in regard to it, it is discussed at some length.
Several distinct classes of evidence are adduced to prove that the grand
features of our globe--the position of the great oceans {534} and the chief
land-areas--have remained, on the whole, unchanged throughout geological
time. Our continents are shown to be built up mainly of "shore-deposits";
and even the chalk, which is so often said to be the exact equivalent of
the "globigerina ooze" now forming in mid-Atlantic, is shown to be a
comparatively shallow-water deposit formed in inland seas, or in the
immediate vicinity of land. The general stability of continents has,
however, been accompanied by constant changes of form, and insular
conditions have prevailed over every part in succession; and the effect of
such changes on the distribution of organisms is pointed out.
We then approach the consideration of another set of changes--those of
climate--which have probably been agents of the first importance in
modifying the specific forms as well as the distribution of animals. Here
again we find ourselves in the midst of fierce controversies. The
occurrence of a recent glacial epoch of great severity in the northern
hemisphere is now universally admitted, but the causes which brought it on
are matter of dispute. But unless we can arrive at these causes, as well as
at those which produced the equally well demonstrated mild climate in the
Arctic regions, we shall be quite unable to determine the nature and amount
of the changes of climate which have occurred throughout past ages, and
shall thus be left without a most important clue to the explanation of many
of the anomalies in the distribution of animals and plants.
I have therefore devoted three chapters to a full investigation of this
question. I have first given such a sketch of the most salient facts as to
render the phenomena of the glacial epoch clear and intelligible. I then
review the various suggested explanations, and, taking up the two which
alone seem tenable, I endeavour to determine the true principles of each.
While adopting generally Mr. Croll's views as to the causes of the "glacial
epoch," I have introduced certain limitations and modifications. I have
pointed out, I believe, more clearly than has hitherto been done, the very
different effects on climate of water in the liquid and in the solid state;
and I have {535} shown, by a variety of evidence, that without high land
there can be no permanent snow and ice. From these facts and principles the
very important conclusion is reached, that the alternate phases of
precession--causing the winter of each hemisphere to be in _aphelion_ and
_perihelion_ each 10,500 years--would produce a complete change of climate
only where a country was _partially_ snow-clad; while, whenever a large
area became almost _wholly_ buried in snow and ice--as was certainly the
case with Northern Europe and America during the glacial epoch--then the
glacial conditions would be continued and perhaps even intensified when the
sun approached nearest to the earth in winter, instead of there being at
that time, as Mr. Croll maintains, an almost perpetual spring. This
important result is supported by reference to the existing differences
between the climates of the northern and southern hemispheres, and by what
is known to have occurred during the last glacial epoch; and it is shown to
be in complete harmony with the geological evidence as to interglacial mild
periods.
Discussing next the evidence for glacial epochs in earlier times, it is
shown that Mr. Croll's views are opposed by a vast body of facts, and that
the geological evidence leads irresistibly to the conclusion that during a
large portion of the Secondary and Tertiary periods, uninterrupted warm
climates prevailed in the north temperate zone, and so far ameliorated the
climate of the Arctic regions as to admit of the growth of a luxuriant
vegetation in the highest latitudes yet explored. The geographical
condition of the northern hemisphere at these periods is then investigated,
and it is shown to have been probably such as to admit the warm tropical
waters freely to penetrate the land, and to reach the Arctic seas by
several channels; and, adopting Mr. Croll's calculations as to the enormous
quantity of heat that would thus be conveyed northwards, it is maintained
that the mild Arctic climates are amply accounted for. With such favourable
geographical conditions, it is shown, that changes of excentricity and of
the phases of precession would have no other effect than to cause greater
differences {536} of temperature between summer and winter; but, wherever
there was a considerable extent of very lofty mountains the snow-line would
be lowered, and the snow-collecting area being thus largely increased a
considerable amount of local glaciation might result. Thus may be explained
the presence of enormous ice-borne rocks in Eocene and Miocene times in
Central Europe, while at the very same period all the surrounding country
enjoyed a tropical or sub-tropical climate.
The general conclusion is thus reached, that geographical conditions are
the essential causes of great changes of climate, and that the radically
different distribution of land and sea in the northern and southern
hemispheres has generally led to great diversity of climate in the Arctic
and Antarctic regions. The form and arrangement of the continents is shown
to be such as to favour the transfer of warm oceanic currents to the north
far in excess of those which move towards the south, and whenever these
currents had free passage _through_ the northern land-masses to the polar
area, a mild climate must have prevailed over the whole northern
hemisphere. It is only in very recent times that the great northern
continents have become so completely consolidated as they now are, thus
shutting out the warm water from their interiors, and rendering possible a
wide-spread and intense glacial epoch. But this great climatal change was
actually brought about by the high excentricity which occurred about
200,000 years ago; and it is doubtful if a similar glaciation in equally
low latitudes could be produced by means of any such geographical
combinations as actually occur, without the concurrence of a high
excentricity.
A survey of the present condition of the earth supports this view, for
though we have enormous mountain ranges in every latitude, there is no
glaciated country south of Greenland in N. Lat. 61deg. But directly we go
back a very short period, we find the superficial evidences of glaciation
to an enormous extent over three-fourths of the globe. In the Alps and
Pyrenees, in the British Isles and Scandinavia, in Spain and the Atlas, in
the Caucasus {537} and the Himalayas, in Eastern North America and west of
the Rocky Mountains, in the Andes of South Temperate America, in South
Africa, and in New Zealand, huge moraines and other unmistakable ice-marks
attest the universal descent of the snow-line for several thousand feet
below its present level. If we reject the influence of high excentricity as
the cause of this almost universal glaciation, we must postulate a general
elevation of _all_ these mountains about the same time, geologically
speaking--for the general similarity in the state of preservation of the
ice-marks and the known activity of denudation as a destroying agent,
forbid the idea that they belong to widely separated epochs. It has,
indeed, been suggested, that denudation alone has lowered these mountains
so much during the post-tertiary epoch, that they were previously of
sufficient height to account for the glaciation of all of them; but this
hardly needs refutation, for it is clear that denudation could not at the
same time have removed some thousands of feet of rock from many hundreds of
square miles of lofty snow-collecting plateaus, and yet have left moraines,
and blocks, and even glacial striae, undisturbed and uneffaced on the
slopes and in the valleys of these same mountains.
The theory of geological climates set forth in this volume, while founded
on Mr. Croll's researches, differs from all that have yet been made public,
in clearly tracing out the comparative influence of geographical and
astronomical revolutions, showing that, while the former have been the
chief, if not the exclusive, causes of the long-continued mild climates of
the Arctic regions, the concurrence of the latter has been essential to the
production of glacial epochs in the temperate zones, as well as of those
local glaciations in low latitudes, of which there is such an abundance of
evidence.
The next question discussed is that of geological time as bearing on the
development of the organic world. The periods of time usually demanded by
geologists have been very great, and it was often assumed that there was no
occasion to limit them. But the theory of development demands far more; for
the earliest fossiliferous rocks {538} prove the existence of many and
varied forms of life which require unrecorded ages for their
development--ages probably far longer than those which have elapsed from
that period to the present day. The physicists, however, deny that any such
indefinitely long periods are available. The sun is ever losing heat far
more rapidly than it can be renewed from any known or conceivable source.
The earth is a cooling body, and must once have been too hot to support
life; while the friction of the tides is checking the earth's rotation, and
this cannot have gone on indefinitely without making our day much longer
than it is. A limit is therefore placed to the age of the habitable earth,
and it has been thought that the time so allowed is not sufficient for the
long processes of geological change and organic development. It is
therefore important to inquire whether these processes are either of them
so excessively slow as has been supposed, and I devote a chapter to the
inquiry.
Geologists have measured with some accuracy the maximum thickness of all
the known sedimentary rocks. The rate of denudation has also been recently
measured by a method which, if not precise, at all events gives results of
the right order of magnitude and which err on the side of being too slow
rather than too fast. If, then, the _maximum_ thickness of the _known_
sedimentary rocks is taken to represent the _average_ thickness of _all_
the sedimentary rocks, and we also know the _amount_ of sediment carried to
the sea or lakes, and the _area_ over which that sediment is spread, we
have a means of calculating the _time_ required for the building up of all
the sedimentary rocks of the geological system. I have here inquired how
far the above suppositions are correct, or on which side they probably err;
and the conclusion arrived at is, that the time required is very much less
than has hitherto been supposed.
Another estimate is afforded by the date of the last glacial epoch if
coincident with the last period of high excentricity, while the Alpine
glaciation of the Miocene period is assumed to have been caused by the next
earlier phase of very high excentricity. Taking these as data, the {539}
proportionate change of the species of mollusca affords a means of arriving
at the whole lapse of time represented by the fossiliferous rocks; and
these two estimates agree in the _order_ of their magnitudes.
It is then argued that the changes of climate every 10,500 years during the
numerous periods of high excentricity have acted as a motive power in
hastening on both geological and biological change. By raising and lowering
the snow-line in all mountain ranges it has caused increased denudation;
while the same changes have caused much migration and disturbance in the
organic world, and have thus tended to the more rapid modification of
species. The present epoch being a period of very low excentricity, the
earth is in a phase of _exceptional stability_ both physical and organic;
and it is from this period of exceptional stability that our notions of the
very slow rate of change have been derived.
The conclusion is, on the whole, that the periods allowed by physicists are
not only far in excess of such as are required for geological and organic
change, but that they allow ample margin for a lapse of time anterior to
the deposit of the earliest fossiliferous rocks several times longer than
the time which has elapsed since their deposit to the present day.
Having thus laid the foundation for a scientific interpretation of the
phenomena of distribution, we proceed to the Second Part of our work--the
discussion of a series of typical Insular Faunas and Floras with a view to
explain the interesting phenomena they present. Taking first two North
Atlantic groups--the Azores and Bermuda--it is shown how important an agent
in the dispersal of most animals and plants is a stormy atmosphere.
Although 900 and 700 miles respectively from the nearest continents, their
productions are very largely identical with those of Europe and America;
and, what is more important, fresh arrivals of birds, insects, and plants,
are now taking place almost annually. These islands afford, therefore, test
examples of the great dispersive powers of certain groups of organisms, and
thus serve as a basis on which to found our explanations of many anomalies
of distribution. Passing {540} on to the Galapagos we have a group less
distant from a continent and of larger area, yet, owing to special
conditions, of which the comparatively stormless equatorial atmosphere is
the most important, exhibiting far more speciality in its productions than
the more distant Azores. Still, however, its fauna and flora are as
unmistakably derived from the American continent as those of the Azores are
from the European.
We next take St. Helena and the Sandwich Islands, both wonderfully isolated
in the midst of vast oceans, and no longer exhibiting in their productions
an exclusive affinity to one continent. Here we have to recognise the
results of immense antiquity, and of those changes of geography, of
climate, and in the general distribution of organisms which we know have
occurred in former geological epochs, and whose causes and consequences we
have discussed in the first part of our volume. This concludes our review
of the Oceanic Islands.
Coming now to Continental Islands we consider first those of most recent
origin and offering the simplest phenomena; and begin with the British
Isles as affording the best example of very recent and well known
Continental Islands. Reviewing the interesting past history of Britain, we
show why it is comparatively poor in species and why this poverty is still
greater in Ireland. By a careful examination of its fauna and flora it is
then shown that the British Isles are not so completely identical,
biologically, with the continent as has been supposed. A considerable
amount of speciality is shown to exist, and that this speciality is real
and not apparent is supported by the fact, that small outlying islands,
such as the Isle of Man, the Shetland Isles, Lundy Island, and the Isle of
Wight, all possess certain species or varieties not found elsewhere.
Borneo and Java are next taken, as illustrations of tropical islands which
may be not more ancient than Britain, but which, owing to their much larger
area, greater distance from the continent, and the extreme richness of the
equatorial fauna and flora, possess a large proportion of peculiar species,
though these are in general very closely allied to those of the adjacent
parts of Asia. The {541} preliminary studies we have made enable us to
afford a simpler and more definite interpretation of the peculiar relations
of Java to the continent and its differences from Borneo and Sumatra, than
was given in my former work (_The Geographical Distribution of Animals_).
Japan and Formosa are next taken, as examples of islands which are
decidedly somewhat more ancient than those previously considered, and which
present a number of very interesting phenomena, especially in their
relations to each other, and to remote rather than to adjacent parts of the
Asiatic continent.
We now pass to the group of Ancient Continental Islands, of which
Madagascar is the most typical example. It is surrounded by a number of
smaller islands which may be termed its satellites since they partake of
many of its peculiarities; though some of these--as the Comoros and
Seychelles--may be considered continental, while others--as Bourbon,
Mauritius, and Rodriguez--are decidedly oceanic. In order to understand the
peculiarities of the Madagascar fauna we have to consider the past history
of the African and Asiatic continents, which it is shown are such as to
account for all the main peculiarities of the fauna of these islands
without having recourse to the hypothesis of a now-submerged Lemurian
continent. Considerable evidence is further adduced to show that "Lemuria"
is a myth, since not only is its existence unnecessary, but it can be
proved that it would not explain the actual facts of distribution. The
origin of the interesting Mascarene wingless birds is discussed, and the
main peculiarities of the remarkable flora of Madagascar and the Mascarene
islands pointed out; while it is shown that all these phenomena are to be
explained on the general principles of the permanence of the great oceans
and the comparatively slight fluctuations of the land area, and by taking
account of established palaeontological facts.
There remain two other islands--Celebes and New Zealand--which are classed
as "anomalous," the one because it is almost impossible to place it in any
of the six zoological regions, or determine whether it has ever been
actually joined to a continent--the other because it {542} combines the
characteristics of continental and oceanic islands.
The peculiarities of the Celebesian fauna have already been dwelt upon in
several previous works, but they are so remarkable and so unique that they
cannot be omitted in a treatise on "Insular Faunas"; and here, as in the
case of Borneo and Java, fuller consideration and the application of the
general principles laid down in our First Part, lead to a solution of the
problem at once more simple and more satisfactory than any which have been
previously proposed. I now look upon Celebes as an outlying portion of the
great Asiatic continent of Miocene times, which either by submergence or
some other cause had lost the greater portion of its animal inhabitants,
and since then has remained more or less completely isolated from every
other land. It has thus preserved a fragment of a very ancient fauna along
with a number of later types which have reached it from surrounding islands
by the ordinary means of dispersal. This sufficiently explains all the
peculiar _affinities_ of its animals, though the peculiar and distinctive
_characters_ of some of them remain as mysterious as ever.
New Zealand is shown to be so completely continental in its geological
structure, and its numerous wingless birds so clearly imply a former
connection with some other land (as do its numerous lizards and its
remarkable reptile, the Hatteria), that the total absence of indigenous
land-mammalia was hardly to be expected. Some attention is therefore given
to the curious animal which has been seen but never captured, and this is
shown to be probably identical with an animal referred to by Captain Cook.
The more accurate knowledge which has recently been obtained of the sea
bottom around New Zealand enables us to determine that the former
connection of that island with Australia was towards the north, and this is
found to agree well with many of the peculiarities of its fauna.
The flora of New Zealand and that of Australia are now both so well known,
and they present so many peculiarities, and relations of so anomalous a
character, {543} as to present in Sir Joseph Hooker's opinion an almost
insoluble problem. Much additional information on the physical and
geological history of these two countries has, however, been obtained since
the appearance of Sir Joseph Hooker's works, and I therefore determined to
apply to them the same method of discussion and treatment which has been
usually successful with similar problems in the case of animals. The fact
above noted, that New Zealand was connected with Australia in its northern
and tropical portion only, of itself affords a clue to one portion of the
specialities of the New Zealand flora--the presence of an unusual number of
tropical families and genera, while the temperate forms consist mainly of
species either identical with those found in Australia or closely allied to
them. But a still more important clue is obtained in the geological
structure of Australia itself, which is shown to have been for long periods
divided into an eastern and a western island, in the latter of which the
highly peculiar flora of temperate Australia was developed. This is found
to explain with great exactness the remarkable absence from New Zealand of
all the most abundant and characteristic Australian genera, both of plants
and of animals, since these existed at that time only in the _western_
island, while New Zealand was in connection with the _eastern_ island alone
and with the tropical portion of it. From these geological and physical
facts, and the known powers of dispersal of plants, all the main features,
and many of the detailed peculiarities of the New Zealand flora are shown
necessarily to result.
Our last chapter is devoted to a wider, and if possible more interesting
subject--the origin of the European element in the floras of New Zealand
and Australia, and also in those of South America and South Africa. This is
so especially a botanical question, that it was with some diffidence I
entered upon it, yet it arose so naturally from the study of the New
Zealand and Australian floras, and seemed to have so much light thrown upon
it by our preliminary studies as to changes of climate and the causes which
have favoured the distribution of plants, that I felt my work would be
incomplete without a consideration of {544} it. The subject will be so
fresh in the reader's mind that a complete summary of it is unnecessary. I
venture to think, however, that I have shown, not only the several routes
by which the northern plants have reached the various southern lands, but
have pointed out the special aids to their migration, and the motive power
which has urged them on.
In this discussion, if nowhere else, will be found a complete justification
of that lengthy investigation of the exact nature of past changes of
climate, which to some readers may have seemed unnecessary and unsuited to
such a work as the present. Without the clear and definite conclusions
arrived at by that discussion, and those equally important views as to the
permanence of the great features of the earth's surface, and the wonderful
dispersive powers of plants which have been so frequently brought before us
in our studies of insular floras, I should not have ventured to attack the
wide and difficult problem of the northern element in southern floras.
In concluding a work dealing with subjects which have occupied my attention
for many years, I trust that the reader who has followed me throughout will
be imbued with the conviction that ever presses upon myself, of the
complete interdependence of organic and inorganic nature. Not only does the
marvellous structure of each organised being involve the whole past history
of the earth, but such apparently unimportant facts as the presence of
certain types of plants or animals in one island rather than in another,
are now shown to be dependent on the long series of past geological
changes--on those marvellous astronomical revolutions which cause a
periodic variation of terrestrial climates--on the apparently fortuitous
action of storms and currents in the conveyance of germs--and on the
endlessly varied actions and reactions of organised beings on each other.
And although these various causes are far too complex in their combined
action to enable us to follow them out in the case of any one species, yet
their broad results are clearly recognisable; and we are thus encouraged to
study more completely every detail and {545} every anomaly in the
distribution of living things, in the firm conviction that by so doing we
shall obtain a fuller and clearer insight into the course of nature, and
with increased confidence that the "mighty maze" of Being we see everywhere
around us is "not without a plan."
{549}
INDEX
A.
Acacia, wide range of in Australia, 185
_Acacia heterophylla_, and _Acacia koa_, 443
Acaena in California, 527
_Accipiter hawaii_, 314
Achatinellinae, average range of, 317
_Aegialitis sanctae-helenae_, 305
Africa, characteristic mammalia of, 416
former isolation of, 418
Africa and Madagascar, relations of, 418
early history of, 419
African highlands as aiding the migration of plants, 524
African reptiles absent from Madagascar, 418
Aggressive power of the Scandinavian flora, 511
Air and water, properties of, in relation to climate, 131
_Alectoraenas pulcherrimus_, 429
Allen, Mr. J. A., on variation, 58
Allied species occupy separate areas, 478
Alpine plants, their advantages as colonisers, 503
Alternations of climate in Switzerland and North America, 121
Alternations of climate, palaeontological evidence of, 119
Amazon, limitation of species by, 18
_Amblyrhynchus cristatus_, 279
American genera of reptiles in Madagascar, 417
Amphibia, dispersal of, 76
of the Seychelles, 432
introduced, of Mauritius, 435
of New Zealand, 483
Amphioxus, 63
Amphisbaenidae, 28
_Amydrus Tristramii_, restricted range of, 16
_Anas Wyvilliana_, 314
Ancient continental islands, 244, 411
Ancient glacial epochs, 169
what evidence of may be expected, 175
Ancient groups in Madagascar, 419
Andersson, N. J., on the flora of the Galapagos, 287
Andes, migration of plants along the, 520
_Angraecum sesquipedale_, 440
Animal life, effects of glacial epoch on, 117
Animal life of Formosa, 401
_Anoa depressicornis_, 456
Antarctic continent as a means of plant-dispersion, 521
Antarctic islands, with perpetual snow, 136
Antelopes, overlapping genera of, 29
Antiquity of Hawaiian fauna and flora, 328
of land-shells, 79
of New Zealand, 526
of plants as affecting their dispersal, 82
_Apera arundinacea_, 503
_Apium graveolens_ in New Zealand, 515
Apteryx, species of, 476
_Arabis hirsuta_ on railway arch, 514
Archaic forms still existing, 229
Arctic and Antarctic regions, contrasts of, 135
Arctic current, effects of a stoppage of, 150
Arctic plants in the southern hemisphere, 509
Arctic regions, mild climates of, 181
recent interglacial mild period in, 182
Arctic warm climates of Secondary and Palaeozoic times, 201
Areas of distribution, 13
separate and overlapping, 17, 28
Ascension, former climate and productions of, 303
Astronomical and geographical causes, comparative effects of, on climate,
207
Astronomical causes of change of climate, 126
of glaciation, 140
Atlantic isles, peculiar mosses of, 368
Atlantosaurus, the largest land-animal, 98
_Atriplex patula_ on a railway bank, 515
Auchenia, 27
Austen, Mr. Godwin, on littoral shells in deep water, 337
Australia, two sets of Northern plants in, 523
South European plants in, 523
Australia and South Africa, supposed connection of, 525
{550}
Australian Alps, indications of glaciation in, 163
birds absent from New Zealand, 483
flora, general features of, 491
richest in temperate zone, 491
recent and derivative in the tropics, 492
its south-eastern and south-western divisions, 493
Sir Joseph Hooker on, 494
geological explanation of, 494
its presence in New Zealand, 498
natural orders of, wanting in New Zealand, 490
orchideae in China, 527
genera of plants in India, 524
plants absent from New Zealand, 488, 490
none in north temperate zone, 527
running wild in Neilgherrie mountains, 528
region, definition of, 45
mammals and birds of, 46
seeds scattered in New Zealand, 508
Aylward, Captain, on glaciation of South Africa, 163
Azores, 247
absence from, of large-fruited trees or shrubs, 260
zoological features of, 248
birds of, 249
insects of, 253
beetles of, 253
land-shells of, 256
flora of, 256
Azores and New Zealand, identical plants in both, 512
Azorean bird-fauna, origin of, 250
fauna and flora, deductions from, 261
plants, facilities for the dispersal of, 260
B.
_Babirusa alfurus_ in Celebes, 456
Badgers, 41
Bahamas contrasted with Florida, 5
Baker, Mr., on flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles, 441
Bali and Lombok, contrasts of, 4
Banca, peculiar species of, 386
_Barbarea precox_ on railway bank, 514
Barn-owl, wide range of, 15
Baron, Rev. R., on the flora of Madagascar, 441
Barriers to dispersal, 73
Batrachia, 30
Bats in Bermuda, 269
Bears of Europe and America, 14
Beaver of Europe and America, 14
Beetles of the Azores, 253
remote affinities of some of, 255
of the Galapagos, 284
of St. Helena, 298
of the Sandwich Islands, 318
peculiar British species of, 351
Bell-birds, distribution of, 24
Bennett, Mr. Arthur, on peculiar British plants, 360
on the vegetation of railway banks, 514
Bentham, Mr., on the compositae of the Galapagos, 288
on the compositae of St. Helena, 307
on the Mascarene compositae, 445
on Sandwich Island compositae, 325
Bermuda, 262
soundings around, 263
red clay of, 265
zoology of, 266
reptiles of, 266
birds of, 266
insects of, 269
land-mollusca of, 270
flora of, 271
Bermuda and Azores, comparison of bird-faunas of, 268
_Bernicla sandvichensis_, 314
Biological causes which determine distribution, 532
Biological features of Madagascar, 416
Birds as plant-dispersers, 81
as seed-carriers, 81, 258
common to Great Britain and Japan, 396
common to India and Japan, 399
specific range of, 15
range of British, 34
range of East Asian, 38
variation in N. American, 58
dispersal of, 75
of the Azores, 249
of Bermuda, 266
of Bermuda and Azores compared, 268
of the Galapagos, 280
of the Sandwich Islands, 313
peculiar to Britain, 340
of Borneo, 377
of Java, 382
of the Philippines, 388
of Japan, 396
peculiar to Japan, 398
peculiar to Formosa, 404
common to Formosa and India or Malaya, 407
of Madagascar, and their teachings, 422
of Comoro Islands, 429
of the Seychelles, 430
of the Mascarene islands, 436
of islands east and west of Celebes, 454
of Celebes, 458
peculiar to Celebes, 459
Himalayan types of, in Celebes, 462
list of, in Celebes, 466
of New Zealand, 476, 482
wingless, of New Zealand, 476
Blackburn, Mr. T., on the beetles of the Sandwich Islands, 318
Blakiston and Pryer on birds of Japan, 396
{551}
Bland, Mr., on land-shells of Bermuda, 270
Blanford, Mr. W. T., on small effect of marine denudation, 225
Blanford, Mr. H. F., on former connection of Africa and India, 426
Blocks, travelled and perched, 109
Blue magpies, range of, 15
Borneo, geology of, 375
mammalia of, 376
birds of, 377
affinities of fauna of, 381
Borneo and Asia, resemblance of, 6
Borneo and Java, 373
Boulder-beds of the carboniferous formation, 201
Boulder clays of east of England, 118
Bovidae, 29
Brady, Mr. H. B., on habitat of globigerinae, 92
Braithwaite, Dr. R., on peculiar British mosses, 365
Britain, probable climate of, with winter in _aphelion_, 156
British birds, range of, 34-38
British Columbia, interglacial warm periods in, 121
British fauna and flora, peculiarities of, 370
British Isles, recent changes in, 332
proofs of former elevation of, 334
submerged forests of, 335
buried river channels of, 336
last union of, with continent, 337
why poor in species, 338
peculiar birds of, 339
fresh-water fishes of, 340
peculiar insects of, 344
peculiar Lepidoptera of, 347
peculiar Coleoptera of, 351
peculiar Trichoptera of, 355
peculiar land and fresh-water shells of, 356
peculiarities of the flora of, 360
peculiar mosses and Hepaticae of, 366
British mammals as indicating a zoological region, 33
Buller, Sir W. L., on the New Zealand rat, 475
Buried river-channels, 336
_Buteo solitarius_, 314
Butterflies of Celebes, peculiar shape of, 463
Butterflies, peculiar British, 347
C.
Caddis-flies peculiar to Britain, 355
Caecilia, species of, in the Seychelles, 432
wide distribution of, 432
Caeciliadae, 28
_Callithea Leprieuri_, distribution of, 18
_Callithea sapphira_, 18
Camels as destroyers of vegetation, 296
former wide distribution of, 421
Camelus, 17, 27
_Campanula vidalii_, 261
Canis, 17, 26
Carabus, numerous species of, 42
Carboniferous boulder-beds, 201
warm Arctic climate, 201
Carnivora in Madagascar, 417
Carpenter, Dr., on habitat of globigerinae, 92
Carpenter, Mr. Edward, on Mars and glacial periods, 164
_Carduus marianus_ in New Zealand, 515
_Carpodacus purpureus_ and _P. californicus_, 68
Castor, 17
Casuarina, 185
in India, 527
Cause of extinction, 63
Caves of Glamorganshire, 336
Cebibae, overlapping genera of, 29
Celebes, physical features of, 451
islands around, 452
zoology of, 455
derivation of mammals of, 457
birds of, 458
not a continental island, 461
insect peculiarities of, 462
Himalayan types in, 462
peculiarity of butterflies of, 463
list of land-birds of, 466
Centetidae, 27
Centetidae, formerly inhabited Europe, 420
Central America, mixed fauna of, 53
Ceratodus, or mud-fish, 69
Cervus, 17, 26
Chalk a supposed oceanic formation, 89
Chalk at Oahu, analysis of, 90
Chalk, analysis of, 91
Chalk mollusca indicative of shallow water, 93
Chalk sea, extent of, in Europe, 93
Chalk-formation, land-plants found in, 94
deposited in an inland sea, 93
of Faxoe an ancient coral-reef, 94
modern formation of, 95
supposed oceanic origin of, erroneous, 96
"Challenger" soundings and shore-deposits, 86
"Challenger" ridge in the Atlantic, 101
Chameleons very abundant in Madagascar, 430
Chamois, distribution of, 13
Changes of land and sea, 83
Chasmorhynchus, distribution of, 24
_C. nudicollis_, 24
_C. tricarunculatus_, 24
_C. variegatus_, 24
_C. niveus_, 24
_Chilomenus lunata_, 300
Chinchillas, 26
Chrysochloridae, 29
Cicindela, 17
Cicindelidae common to South America and Madagascar, 28
Clay, red, of Bermuda, 265
Climate, astronomical causes of changes of, 126
{552}
properties of snow and ice in relation to, 131
of Britain with winter in _aphelion_, 156
of Tertiary period in Europe and N. America, 178
temperate in Arctic regions, 181
causes of mild Arctic, 190
of Tertiary and Secondary periods, 199, 202
of the Secondary and Palaeozoic epochs, 200
change of, during Tertiary and Secondary Periods, 200
affected by arrangement of the great continents, 205
nature of changes of, caused by high excentricity, 230
exceptional stability of the present, 232
changes of, as affecting migration of plants, 517
Climatal changes, 106
change, its essential principle restated, 158
changes as modifying organisms, 229
Clouds cut off the sun's heat, 145
Coal in Sumatra, 385
Coast line of globe, extent of, 221
Cochoa, distribution of, 25
Cockerell, Mr. Th. D. A., on slugs of Bermuda, 271
on British land and fresh-water shells, 356
Cold alone does not cause glaciation, 135
how it can be stored up, 133
Coleoptera of the Azores, 253
of St. Helena, 298
of the Sandwich Islands, 318
peculiar British species of, 351
Comoro Islands, 428
mammals and birds of, 428
Compositae of the Galapagos, 288
of St. Helena, 307
of the Sandwich Islands, 325
of the Mascarene Islands, 445
species often have restricted ranges, 504
Conclusions on the New Zealand flora, 506
Contemporaneous formation of Lower Greensand and Wealden, 221
Continental conditions throughout geological time, 97-99
changes and animal distribution, 102
extensions will not explain anomalous facts of distribution, 449
Continental islands, 243
of recent origin, 331
general remarks on recent, 408
ancient, 411
Continental period, date of, 337
Continents, movements of, 88
permanence of, 97
general stability of, 101, 103
geological development of, 205
Continuity of land, 74
Continuity of now isolated groups, proof of, 70
Cook, Captain, on a native quadruped in New Zealand, 476
Cope, Professor, on the Bermuda lizard, 266
_Coracias temminckii_, in Celebes, 463
Corvus, 17
Cossonidae, in St. Helena, 299
Cretaceous deposits in North Australia, 493, 496
Cretaceous flora of Greenland, 185
of the United States, 189
Croll, Dr. James, on Antarctic icebergs, 136
on winter temperature of Britain in glacial epoch, 141
on diversion of gulf-stream during the glacial epoch, 143
on loss of heat by clouds and fogs, 145
on geographical causes as affecting climate, 148
on ancient glacial epochs, 170
on universality of glacial markings in Scotland, 174
on mild climates of Arctic regions, 189
on ocean-currents, 190, 204
on age of the earth, 213
on mean thickness of sedimentary rocks, 220
on small amount of marine denudation, 225
on buried river-channels, 336
Ctenodus, 69
Cyanopica, distribution of, 24
_Cyanopica cooki_, restricted range of, 15, 24
_Cyanopica cyanus_, 24
_Cynopithecus nigrescens_, in Celebes, 456
D.
Dacelo, 47
Dana on continental upheavals, 88
on chalk in the Sandwich Islands, 90
on elevation of land causing the glacial epoch, 152
on elevation of Western America, 194
on the development of continents, 205
on shore-deposits, 222
on life extermination by cold epochs, 230
Darwin, experiment on _Helix pomatia_, 78
on the permanence of oceans, 100
on cloudy sky of Antarctic regions, 146
on glaciers of the Southern Andes, 147
on geological time, 211
on complex relations of organisms, 226
on oceanic islands, 242
on seeds carried by birds, 257
{553}
experiments on seed-dispersal, 258
on natural history of the Keeling Islands, 286
theory of formation of atolls, 397
on cultivated plants not running wild, 507
Dawkins, Professor Boyd, on animal migrations during the glacial epoch,
120
Dawson, Mr. G. M., on alternations of climate in British Columbia, 121
Professor, on Palaeozoic boulder-beds in Nova Scotia, 201
De Candolle on dispersal of seeds, 80
Deep-sea deposits, 219
Deer in Celebes, 456
_Delphinium ajacis_, on a railway bank, 515
_Dendroeca_, 19
_D. coerulea_, 19
_D. discolor_, 19
_D. dominica_, 19
_Dendroeca coronata_, variation of, 58
Dendrophidae, 29
Denudation destroys the evidences of glaciation, 172
Denudation and deposition as a measure of time, 213
Denudation in river basins, measurement of, 215
Denudation, marine as compared with sub-aerial, 225
Deposition of sediments, how to estimate the average, 221
Deserts, cause of high temperature of, 132
Diagram of excentricity and precession, 129
Diagram of excentricity for three million years, 171
Dididae, how exterminated, 436
Didunculus, keeled sternum of, 437
Diospyros, in upper greensand of Greenland, 186
_Diplotaxis muralis_, on railway banks, 513
Dipnoi, discontinuity of, 69
Dipterus, 69
Discontinuity among North American birds, 67
Discontinuity a proof of antiquity, 69
Discontinuous generic areas, 23
Discontinuous areas, 64
why rare, 64
Dispersal of animals, 72
of land animals, how effected, 73, 76
along mountain-chains, 81
of seeds by wind, 80, 257
by birds, 81, 258
by ocean-currents, 81, 258
of Azorean plants, facilities for, 260
Distribution, changes of, shown by extinct animals, 102
how to explain anomalies of, 420
Drontheim mountains, peculiar mosses of, 368
Dobson, Mr., on bats of Japan, 394
on the affinities of _Mystacina tuberculata_, 474
Dodo, the, 436
aborted wings of, 437
Dryiophidae, 28
Dumeril, Professor, on lizards of Bourbon, 435
Duncan, Professor P. M., on ancient sea of central Australia, 496
E.
Early history of New Zealand, 484
Earth's age, 210
East Asian birds, range of, 38
East and West Australian floras, geological explanation of, 494
Echidna, 30
Echimyidae, 27
Elevation of North America during glacial period, 154
causing diversion of gulf-stream, 154
Elwes, Mr. H. J., on distribution of Asiatic birds, 380
_Emberiza schoeniclus_, discontinuity of, 66
_E. passerina_, range of, 66
_E. pyrrhulina_, 66
Endemic genera of plants in Mauritius, &c., 443
Endemic genera of plants in New Zealand, 526
English plants in St. Helena, 297
Environment, change of, as modifying organisms, 225
_Eriocaulon septangulare_, 363
Ethiopian Region, definition of, 42
birds of, 43
Ettingshausen, Baron von, on the fossil flora of New Zealand, 499
on Australian plants in England, 518
Eucalyptus, wide range of, in Australia, 185
Eucalyptus and Acacia, why not in New Zealand, 507
Eucalyptus in Eocene of Sheppey, 518
Eupetes, distribution of, 25
Europe, Asia, &c., as zoological terms, 32
European birds, range of, 16
in Bermuda, 269
European occupation, effects of, in St. Helena, 294
European plants in New Zealand, 507
in Chile and Fuegia, 521
Everett, Mr., on Bornean birds, 377
on mammalia of the Philippines, 387
on Philippine birds, 388
on raised coral-reefs in the Philippines, 389
Evolution necessitates continuity, 70
Excentricity and precession, diagram of, 129
Excentricity, variations of, during three million years, 171
Excentricity a test of rival theories of climate, 171
Excentricity, high, its effects on warm and cold climates, 198
Explanation of peculiarities of the fauna of Celebes, 460
{554}
Extinct animals showing changes of distribution, 102
Extinct birds of the Mascarene Islands, 436
of New Zealand, 476
Extinction caused by glacial epoch, 122
F.
Families, restricted areas of, 29
distribution and antiquity of, 68
Fauna and flora, peculiarities of British, 370
Fauna of Borneo, affinities of, 381
of Java, 382
of Java and Asia compared, 384
Faunas of Hainan, Formosa, and Japan compared, 407
Felis, 17, 26
Ferns, abundance of, in Mascarene flora, 445
Ficus, fossil Arctic, 186
Fire-weed, the, of Tasmania, 513
Fisher, Rev. O., on temperature of space, 131
Fishes, dispersal of, 76
peculiar British, 340
cause of great speciality in, 343
mode of migration of fresh-water, 344
fresh-water, of New Zealand, 484
Floating islands, and the dispersal of animals, 74
Flora of the Azores, 256
of Bermuda, 271
of the Galapagos, 287
of St. Helena, 305
of the Sandwich Islands, 321;
peculiar features of, 323
peculiarities of the British, 360
of Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands, 439
of Madagascar and South Africa allied, 445
of New Zealand, 487
very poor, 488
its resemblance to the Australian, 489
its differences from the Australian, 490
origin of Australian element in, 498
tropical character of, explained, 500
summary and conclusion on, 506
Floras of New Zealand and Australia, summary of conclusion as to, 542
Florida and Canada, resemblances of, 5
and Bahamas, contrasts of, 5
Fogs cut off the sun's heat in glaciated countries, 145
Forbes, Mr. D., analysis of chalk, 91
Forbes, Mr. H. O., on plants of the Keeling Islands, 286
Formosa, 400
physical features of, 401
animal life of, 401
list of mammalia of, 402
list of land-birds peculiar to, 404
Forests, submerged, 335
Fowler, Rev. Canon, on peculiar British coleoptera, 346, 351
Freezing water liberates low-grade heat, 145
Fresh-water deposits, extent of, 97
organisms absent in St. Helena, 304
snail peculiar to Ireland, 356
fishes of the Seychelles, 433
Frogs of the Seychelles, 432
of New Zealand, 483
Fuegia, European plants in, 521
_Fulica alai_, 313
G.
Galapagos Islands, 275
Galapagos, absence of mammalia and amphibia from, 278
reptiles of, 278
birds of, 280
insects of, 284
land-shells of, 285
flora of, 287
and Azores contrasted, 290
_Galbula cyaneicollis_, distribution of, 18
_rufoviridis_, 18
_viridis_, 18
Galeopithecus, 63
_Gallinula sandvichensis_, 313
Gardner, Mr. J. S., on Tertiary changes of climate, 203
Garrulus, distribution of species of, 20
_Garrulus glandarius_, 21, 23, 65
_G. cervicalis_, 21
_G. krynicki_, 21
_G. atricapillus_, 21
_G. hyrcanus_, 21
_G. brandti_, 21, 23
_G. lanceolatus___, 22
_G. bispecularis_, 22
_G. sinensis_, 22
_G. taivanus_, 22
_G. japonicus_, 22, 65
Geikie, Dr. James, on interglacial deposits, 121
Sir Archibald, on age of buried river-channels, 337
on stratified rocks being found near shores, 87
on formation of chalk in shallow water, 96
on permanence of continents, 104
on variation in rate of denudation, 173
on the rate of denudation, 215
on small amount of marine denudation, 225
Genera, extent of, 17
origin of, 61
rise and decay of, 64
Generic areas, 17
Generic and Family distribution, 25
Genus, defined and illustrated, 17
Geographical change as a cause of glaciation, 148
changes, influence of, on climate, 150, 152
{555}
changes, effect of, on Arctic climates, 195
changes of Java and Borneo, 385
changes as modifying organisms, 228
Geological climates and geographical conditions, 204
time, 210
change, probably quicker in remote times, 223
time, value of the estimate of, 224
time, measurement of, 235
changes as aiding the migration of plants, 519
climates as affecting distribution, 534
climates, summary of causes of, 536
time, summary of views on, 539
Geology of Borneo, 375
of Madagascar, 412
of Celebes, 451
of New Zealand, 472
of Australia, 494
_Geomalacus maculcosus_, 356
Glacial climate not local, 113
deposits of Scotland, 112
Glacial epoch, proofs of, 107
effects of, on animal life, 117
alternations of climate during, 118
as causing migration and extinction, 122
causes of, 125
the essentials to the production of, 136
probable date of the, 160
and the climax of continental development, 206
date of last, 233
Glacial phenomena in North America, 116
Glaciation was greatest where rainfall is now greatest, 139
action of meteorological causes on, 142
summary of chief causes of, 144
in Northern Hemisphere, the only efficient cause of, 144
of New Zealand and South Africa, 162
local, due to high excentricity, 207
widespread in recent times, 536
Gleichenia in Greenland, 186
in relation to chalk, 89
Globigerina-ooze, analysis of, 91
Globigerinae, where found, 92
Glyptostrobus, fossil, 186
Goats, destructiveness of, in St. Helena, 295
Godman, Mr., on birds reaching the Azores, 248, 250
Gray, Professor Asa, on extinction of European plants by the glacial
epoch, 123
Great Britain and Japan, birds common to, 396
Greene, Dr. J. Reay, on chameleons in Bourbon and Mauritius, 435
Greenland, loss of sun-heat by clouds in, 147
an anomaly in the Northern Hemisphere, 154
Miocene flora of, 183
Cretaceous flora of, 186
flora of ice-surrounded rocks of, 522
Grinnell Land, fossil flora of, 184
Guernsey, peculiar caddis-fly in, 355
Gulick, Rev. J. T., on Achatinellinae, 318
Guenther, Dr., on gigantic tortoises, 279
on peculiar British fishes, 341
on _Urotrichus gibsii_, 394
on lizards in the London Docks, 431
on Indian toads in Mauritius, 438
Guppy, Mr., on chalk of Solomon Islands, 91
H.
Haast, Dr., on otter-like mammal in New Zealand, 475
Habitability of globe due to disproportion of land and water, 209
_Haplothorax burchellii_, 299
Hartlaub, Dr., on "Lemuria," 423, 426
_Hatteria punctata_, 483
Haughton, Professor, on heat carried by ocean-currents, 194
comparison of Miocene and existing climates, 197
on geological time, 211, 219
on thickness of sedimentary rocks, 219
Hawaiian fauna and flora, antiquity of, 328
Heat and cold, how dispersed or stored up, 131
Heat required to melt snow, 134
evolved by frozen water, its nature and effects, 145
cut off by cloud and fogs, 145
Hector, Dr., on Triassic and Jurassic flora of New Zealand, 526
Heer, Professor, on chalk sea in Central Europe, 93
Heilprin, Professor, on insects of Bermuda, 269
on land-shells of Bermuda, 270
_Helianthemum Breweri_, 360, 363
Heliodus, an American fossil, 69
Helix, 17
Hemiptera of St. Helena, 303
Hepaticae, peculiar British, 366
non-European genera of, in Britain, 367
Hesperomys, 26
Hesperornis allied to ostriches, 481
_Hieracium iricum_, 362
High land essential to the production of a glacial epoch, 195
Hildebrand, Dr. W., on flora of the Sandwich Islands, 321
Himalayan birds and insects in Celebes, 462
Hippopotamus in Yorkshire as proving a mild climate, 119
Hochstetter on the aquatic mammal of New Zealand, 475
{556}
Hooker, Sir Joseph, on the Galapagos flora, 287
on affinities of St. Helena plants, 306
on peculiar British plants, 360, 363
on the flora of New Zealand, 488
on proportion of temperate and tropical Australian floras, 492
on current of vegetation from north to south, 510
on supposed occurrence of Australian plants in England in the Tertiary
period, 518
Horne, Mr. John, on ice-sheet covering the Isle of Man, 115
Hull, Professor, on Permian breccias in Ireland indicating ice-action,
201
Humming-birds, restricted ranges of, 16
Hutton, Captain, on struthious birds of New Zealand, 479
Huxley, Professor, on geological time, 211
on European origin of African animals, 419
Hyomoschus, 27
Hyracoidea, restricted range of, 30
I.
Ice-action, what evidences of, during the Tertiary period, 178
indications of ancient, 200
Ice-borne rocks, a test of a glacial epoch, 176
in Miocene of N. Italy, 178
in Eocene of Alps, 178
in Eocene of Carpathians and Apennines, 179
absence of, in English and N. American Tertiaries, 180
Ice-cap, why improbable or impossible, 161
Iceland, a continental island, 450
Icteridae, 50
Iguanidae, 50
Indian birds in Formosa, 407
Indian Ocean as a source of heat in Tertiary times, 192
Indian genera of plants in Australia, 492
Indicator, distribution of, 25
Insectivora in Madagascar, 417
Insects, dispersal of, 77
of the Miocene period, 77
restriction of range of, 78
of the Azores, 253
of Bermuda, 269
of the Galapagos, 284
of St. Helena, 298
of the Sandwich Islands, 318
peculiar British, 344
of Celebes, peculiarities of, 462
scarcity of, in New Zealand, 505
Insular faunas, summary of conclusions as to, 539, 542
Interglacial warm periods on the continent and in North America, 121
Interglacial periods and their probable character, 152
Interglacial periods will not occur during an epoch of extreme
glaciation, 155
Interglacial climates never very warm, 159
Ireland, poverty of, in reptiles, 339
in plants, 339
peculiar fishes of, 342
plants of, not found in Great Britain, 364
Islands, classification of, 242
importance of, in study of distribution, 241
remote, how stocked with plants and animals, 261
submerged between Madagascar and India, 425
Isle of Wight, peculiar beetle of, 351
_Isatis tinctoria_, on railway bank, 513
Ithaginis, 26
J.
Japan, zoological features of, 393
mammalia of, 394
birds of, 396
birds peculiar to, 398
birds in distant areas, 399
Japan and Formosa, 391
Java, fauna of, 382
Asiatic species in, 384
Java and Borneo, past changes of, 385
Jays, distribution of species of, 20
of Europe and Japan, 67
Jeffreys, Dr. Gwyn, on shallow-water mollusca in chalk, 92
on fossil shallow-water shells in deep water, 337
Jones, Mr., on migration of birds to Bermuda, 268
on vegetation of the Bermudas, 272
Juan Fernandez, flora and fauna of, 287
Judd, Prof. J. W., on absence of glaciation in east Europe, 139
on glaciation of the Alps produced by elevation, 179
_Juniperus barbadensis_, 272
Jura, travelled blocks on, 110
Jurassic warm Arctic climate, 202
K.
Keeling Islands, animals of, 286
Kirk, Mr. T., on temporary introduced plants, 515
Knowledge of various kinds required for study of geographical
distribution, 7, 9
L.
_Lagopus scoticus_, 340
Land as a barrier to ocean-currents, 150
{557}
Land and sea, changes of, 83
how changes of, affect climate, 148, 150
Land and water, disproportion of, renders globe habitable, 209
Land-birds of Celebes, list of, 466
Land-connection, how far necessary to dispersal of mammals, 73
Land-shells, great antiquity of, 79
universal distribution of, 79
causes favouring the abundance of, 79
of the Azores, 256
of Bermuda, 270
of the Galapagos, 284
of St. Helena, 304
of the Sandwich Islands, 316
of the Seychelles, 434
_Laurus canariensis_, 260
Leguat on animals of Bourbon, 435
on the Solitaire, 436
Leguminosae, abundance of, in Australia, 490
"Lemuria," a supposed submerged continent, 422-426
Lemurs in Madagascar, 416
Lendenfeld, Dr. R. von, on glaciation in the Australian Alps, 163
Leopard, enormous range of, 14
Lepidoptera, list of peculiar British, 347
Lepidosiren, 63
_Lepidosiren paradoxa_ and _L. annectens_, 69
Lepidosternidae, 27
Limestone as indicating change of sea and land, 84
_Limnaea involuta_, 356
_Linaria purpurea_, on railway bank, 514
_Liopelma hochstetteri_, in New Zealand, 483
Liotrichidae, 29
List of the land-birds of Celebes, 466
Lizard peculiar to the Mascarene Islands, 438
Lizards of the Galapagos, 278
local variation of colour of, 431
of New Zealand, 483
Lobeliaceae, abundance of, in the Sandwich Islands, 324
Locality of a species, importance of, 12
_Loddigesia mirabilis_, rarity of, 16
Lord, Mr., on species of Urotrichus, 394
Low-grade and high-grade heat, 145
Lowlands nowhere covered with perpetual snow, 136
Lundy Island, peculiar beetles of, 354
Lyell, Sir Charles, on permanence of continents, 84
on calcareous mud, 90
on the distribution of chalk, 93
on geographical causes as modifying climate, 148
on estimate of geological time, 211, 235
on classification of sedimentary rocks, 217
Lynxes, a Palaearctic group, 41
M.
McLachlan, Mr., on peculiar British caddis-flies, 355
Madagascar, physical features of, 412
former condition of, 414
biological features of, 416
mammalia of, 416
reptiles of, 417
relation of, to Africa, 418
early history of, 419
birds of, in relation to "Lemuria," 422
flora of, 439
conclusion on fauna and flora of, 446
great antiquity of, 446
Madagascar and Africa, contrast of, 6
Maillard on animals of Bourbon, 435
Malay Islands, local peculiarities of flora in, 187
past history of, 389
Malayan birds in Formosa, 406
Mammalia of East Asia, range of, 34
of North Africa, range of, 34
Mammalia, dispersal of, 73
of Britain, range of, 33
poverty of, 329
of Borneo, 376
of Java, 382
of the Philippines, 387
of Japan, 393
of Formosa, 402
common to Formosa and India, 403
of Madagascar, 416
of Comoro Islands, 428
of Celebes, 455; whence derived, 457
of New Zealand, 474
Maori legend of origin of the forest-rat, 475
Maoris, their accounts of the moa, 477
Map of the old Rhone glacier, 110
of North and South Polar Regions, 138
of the Azores, 248
of Bermuda, 263
of the Galapagos, 276, 277
of the South Atlantic Ocean, 293
of the Sandwich Islands, 311
of the North Pacific with its submerged banks, 312
of British Isles and the 100-fathom bank, 333
of Borneo and Java, 374
of Japan and Formosa, 392
physical, of Madagascar, 413
of the Madagascar group, 415
of the Indian Ocean, 425
of Celebes, 452
of sea-bottom around New Zealand, 472
of Australia in Cretaceous period, 497
Marcou, Professor Jules, on the Pliocene and glacial epochs, 233
Marmot, range of, 15
Mars as illustrating glacial theories, 164, 168
{558}
Mars, no true ice-cap on, 166
Marsupials, range of, 30
Marsh, Prof. O. C., on the Atlantosaurus, 98
on Hesperornis, 481
Marsh, Mr., on camels as desert-makers, 296
Mascarene Islands, 428-445
Mascarene plants, curious relations of, 442
endemic genera of, 443
Mascarene flora, fragmentary character of, 444
abundance of ferns in, 445
Mauritius, Bourbon, and Rodriguez, 434
Measurements of geological time, 233
agreement of various estimates of, 235
concluding remarks on, 236
_Medicago sativa_ in New Zealand, 515
Megalaemidae, 27
Meleagris, 50
_Melilotus vulgaris_, on railway banks, 513
Meliphagidae, 47
Melliss, Mr., on the early history of St. Helena, 295
_Melospiza melodia_, variation of, 58
Merycotherium, 123
Meteorological causes as intensifying glaciation, 142
Migration caused by glacial epoch, 122
of birds to Bermuda, 267
of plants from north to south, 512
of plants and alterations of snow line, 516
of plants due to changes of climate, 517
of plants from north to south, long continued, 518
of plants aided by geological changes, 519
of plants by way of the Andes, 520
of plants by way of Himalayas and South Asia, 523
of plants through Africa, 524
Mild Arctic climates, stratigraphical evidence of, 187
causes of, 190
dependent on geographical changes, 191
effects of high excentricity on, 198
summary of causes of, 537
Miocene Arctic flora, 183
flora of Europe, 123
or Eocene floras, 185
deposits of Java, 385
fauna of Europe and North India, 419
Mississippi, matter carried away by, 172
Mitten, Mr. William, on peculiar British mosses and hepaticae, 365, 368
on temporary appearance of plants, 513
Mniotiltidae, a nearctic group, 49
Mnium, peculiar species of, in the Drontheim mountains, 368
Moas of New Zealand, 476
Mollusca, dispersal of, 78
Monotremata, restricted range of, 30
Moraines, 108
of Ivrea, 116
More, Mr. A. G., on peculiar Irish plants, 364
Morgan, Mr. C. Lloyd, on thickness of formations not affected by
denudation, 220
Moseley, Mr. H. N., on seeds carried by birds, 259
on the flora of Bermuda, 272
Mosses, peculiar British, 366
non-European genera of, in Britain, 367
how diffused and why restricted, 368
Mt. St. Elias, why not ice-clad, 154
Mountain chains aiding the dispersal of plants, 81
as aids to migration of plants, 513
Mueller, Baron von, census of Australian plants, 492
_Munia brunneiceps_, in Celebes, 463
Murray, Mr. J., on oceanic deposits, 86
on chalk-like globigerina-ooze, 92
on mean height of continents, 216
on land-area of the globe, 221
Mus, 17, 26
_Mygale pyrenaica_, range of, 15, 24
_M. muscovitica_, 24
_Myialestes helianthea_ in Celebes, 463
_Myrica faya_, 260
Myrsine, fossil in Greenland, 186
_Mytilus edulis_, sub-fossil in Spitzbergen, 182
N.
Nares, Capt. Sir G., on snow and ice in high latitudes, 135
on abrupt elevation of Bermuda, 264
Nearctic Region, definition of, 48
mammalia of, 48
birds of, 49
reptiles of, 50
_Nectarinea osea_, restricted range of, 16
Neilgherries, Australian plants naturalized in, 528
Neotropical Region, definition of, 51
low types of, 52
Nevill, Mr. Geoffrey, on land-shells of the Seychelles, 434
on destruction of Seychelles flora, 445
New species, origin of, 56
Newton, Mr. E., on short wings of the Seychelles dove, 437
Newton, Professor, on recently extinct birds, 437
Newts, restricted range of, 30
New Zealand, recent glaciation of, 163
New Zealand, 471
geology of, 472
form of sea-bottom around, 473
zoological character of, 473
mammalia of, 474
{559}
wingless birds of, 476
past changes of, 478
winged birds and lower vertebrates of, 482
deductions from peculiarities of fauna of, 484
period of its union with N. Australia, 484
the flora of, 487, 506
origin of Australian element in the flora of, 498
tropical character of flora, 500
tropical genera common to Australia, 501
temperate species common to Australia, 502
route of Arctic plants to, 521
European plants in, 509
endemic genera of plants in, 526
great antiquity of, 526
Nordenskjoeld, Prof., on absence of perpetual snow in N. Asia, 135
on recent milder climate in Spitzbergen, 182
on former Polar climates, 187
on geology of Spitzbergen, 188
North America, glacial phenomena in, 116
interglacial warm periods in, 121
condition of, in Tertiary period, 194
Northern genera of plants in S. temperate America, 521
hemisphere, absence of southern plants from, 527
flora, hardiness of, 528
O.
Ocean-currents as carriers of plants, 81
as affecting interglacial periods, 152
as determining climate, 153
effects of, in Tertiary times, 196
Ocean, Darwin on permanence of, 100
Oceanic and continental islands, 242
Oceanic islands a proof of the permanence of oceans, 100
Oceanic islands, 244
--the Azores, 247
general remarks on, 329
Octodontidae, 27
_Oenanthe fluviatilis_, 361
Oeninghen, Miocene flora of, 183
_Oenothera odorata_, on a railway bank, 514
Oliver, Professor, on peculiar Bermudan plants, 272
Operculata, scarcity of, in the Sandwich Islands, 317
_Ophrys apifera_, temporary appearance of, 514
Orchideae, species have restricted ranges, 505
Orchids, abundance of, in Bourbon and Mauritius, 446
why almost universal in the tropics, 446
Orders, distribution of, 30
Organic change dependent on change of conditions, 225, 228
Oriental Region, definition of, 44
mammals and birds of, 44
reptiles of, 45
insects of, 45
Origin of new species, 56, 60
of new genera, 61
of the Galapagos flora, 288
of the beetles of St. Helena, 298
of Australian element in the New Zealand flora, 498
Orkney, peculiar fishes of, 341
Orthonyx not a New Zealand genus, 483
Osprey, wide range of, 15
Ostriches, limitation of, 30
Otter-like mammal in New Zealand, 475
Overlapping and discontinuous areas, 28
P.
_Pachyglossa aureolimbata_, in Celebes, 463
Palaearctic Region, limits of, 39
characteristic features of, 41
Palaeozoic formations, depth of, round London, 218
Palm confined to Round Island, 444
Panax, fossil in Greenland, 186
Papilio, 17
Paraguay, no wild horses or cattle in, 226
Parnassius, Palaearctic, 42
_Parus ater_, 19
_P. borealis_, 19, 64
_P. britannicus_, 321
_P. camtschatkensis_, 19
_P. cinctus_, 20
_P. coeruleus_, 20
_P. cyaneus_, 20
_P. cristatus_, 20
_P. ledouci_, 20
_P. lugubris_, 20
_P. major_, 19
_P. palustris_, 19; discontinuous area of, 65
_P. rosea_, 340
_P. teneriffae_, 20
Passeres of the Sandwich Islands, 314
Past changes of New Zealand, 478
Payer, Lieut., on evaporation of ice during the Arctic summer, 140
Peculiar fauna of New Zealand, deductions from, 484
Pengelly, Mr., on submerged forests, 335
_Pennula millei_, in Sandwich Islands, 313
Permanence of continents, summary of evidence for, 103
Permian formation, indications of ice-action in, 200
Perodicticus, a local genus, 26
_Petroselinum segetum_, on railway bank, 514
{560}
Philippine Islands, 387
mammalia of, 387
birds of, 388
past history of, 389
_Phyllodactylus galapagensis_, 279
_Phylloscopus borealis_, range of, 15
Physical causes which determine distribution, 533
features of Formosa, 401
Pica, 17
Pickering, Dr., on the flora of the Sandwich Islands, 323
on temperate forms on mountains of the Sandwich Islands, 323
_Pithecia monachus_, distribution of, 18
_P. rufibarbata_, 18
Pitta, distribution of, 25
Plants, dispersal of, 80
seeds of, adapted for dispersal, 80
wide range of species and genera of, 185
poverty of, in Ireland, 339
peculiar British, 359
of Ireland not in Great Britain, 364
cause of their wide diffusion and narrow restriction, 369
easily dispersed often have restricted ranges, 504
how they migrate from north to south, 512
of existing genera throughout the Tertiary period, 520
southern migration of, by way of the Himalayas, 523
southern migration of, through Africa, 524
endemic genera of, in New Zealand, 526
Platypus, 30
_Plestiodon longirostris_ of Bermuda, 266
Po, matter carried away by, 173
Podargus, Australian genus, 47
Poecilozonites, peculiar to Bermuda, 270
_Poinciana regia_ in Madagascar, 440
Populus, fossil in Spitzbergen, 184
Pourtales, Count, on modern formation of chalk, 95
on sedimentary deposits in Gulf of Mexico, 222
Poverty in species of Britain, 338
Precession of Equinoxes, influence of, on climate, 126
Preservation of species, 63
Proboscidea, range of, 30
Proteus, why preserved, 63
Psophia, range of species of, 18
Pteroptochidae, 29
Pyrenean ibex, restricted range of, 15
R.
Railways, new plants on, 513
Ramsay, Mr. Wardlaw, on Philippine birds, 388
Professor, on ancient land surfaces, 99
on geological time 212
on thickness of sedimentary rocks, 219
Rat, native, of New Zealand, 475
Rate of organic change usually measured by an incorrect scale, 232
Rats in the Galapagos, 278
Raven, wide range of, 15
Reade, T. Mellard, on changes of sea and land, 84
Recent continental islands, 243, 331
Red clay of Bermuda, 265
Reptiles, dispersal of, 75
of the Galapagos, 278
of the Sandwich Islands, 316
cause of scarcity of, in British Isles, 339
of Madagascar, 417
of the Seychelles, 430
of Mauritius and Round Island, 438
of New Zealand, 483
_Rhodolaena altivola_ in Madagascar, 440
_Rhus toxicodendron_ in Bermuda, 272
Ridgway, Mr., on birds of Galapagos, 281
River-channels, buried, 336
_Roches moutonnees_, 108
Rodents in Madagascar, 417
Round Island, a snake and a palm peculiar to, 438, 444
_Rumex pulcher_ in New Zealand, 515
Rye, Mr. E. C., on peculiar British insects, 345, 351
S.
St. Helena, 292
effects of European occupation on the vegetation of, 294
insects of, 298
land-shells of, 304
absence of fresh-water organisms in, 304
native vegetation of, 305
Salvin, Mr., on the birds of the Galapagos, 280
Sandwich Islands, the, 310
zoology of, 313
birds of, 313
reptiles of, 316
land-shells of, 316
insects of, 318
vegetation of, 321
antiquity of fauna and flora of, 328
Sassafras, in Swiss Miocene, 183
Scandinavian flora, aggressive power of, 511
Scientific voyages, comparative results of, 7
Sciurus, 26
Sclater, Mr. P. L., on zoological region, 32, 39
Scotland, glacial deposits of, 112-115
probable rate of denudation in, 173
Miocene flora of, 184
peculiar fishes of, 341
{561}
_Scotophilus tuberculatus_ in New Zealand, 474
Scrophularincae, why few species are common to Australia and New Zealand,
505
Sea, depth of, around Madagascar, 414
depth of, around Celebes, 452
Sea-bottom around New Zealand and Australia, 473
Sea-level, changes of, dependent on glaciation, 161
complex effects of glaciation on, 162, 164
rise of, a cause of denudation, 174
Seas, inland, in Tertiary period, 191
Section of sea-bottom near Bermuda, 264
Sedges and grasses common to Australia and New Zealand, 504
Sedimentary rocks, how to estimate thickness of, 217
thinning out of, 217
how formed, 218
thickness of, 217, 221
summary of conclusions on the rate of formation of the, 221
Seebohm, Mr., on _Parus palustris_, 65
on _Emberiza schoeniclus_, 66
on snow in Siberia, 166
on birds of Japan, 396
Seeds, dispersal of, 257
carried by birds, 258
_Senecio australis_, on burnt ground, 513
Sericinus, Palaearctic, 42
Seychelles Archipelago, 429
birds of, 430
reptiles and amphibia of, 430
fresh-water fishes of, 433
land-shells of, 434
Sharp, Dr. D., on beetles of the Sandwich Islands, 319
on peculiar British beetles, 345
Shells, peculiar to Britain, 356
Shetland Isles, peculiar beetle of, 354
Shore deposits, 85, 211
proving the permanence of continents, 97
distance from coast of, 221
_Sialia sialis_, variation of, 58
Siberia, amount of snow and its sudden disappearance in, 166
Silurian boulder-beds, 201
warm Arctic climate, 202
Simiidae, 27
_Sisyrinchium bermudianum_, 272
Skertchley, Mr., on four distinct boulder-clays, 118
on Tertiary deposits in Egypt and Nubia, 191
on climatic stability of present epoch, 233
Slug peculiar to Ireland, 356
Snake peculiar to Round Island, 438
Snakes of the Galapagos, 280
of the Seychelles, 431
Snow and ice, properties of, in relation to climate, 131
Snow, effects of, on climate, 133
Snow, quantity of heat required to melt, 134
often of small amount in high latitudes, 135
never perpetual on lowlands, 136
conditions determining perpetual, 137
maintains cold by reflecting the solar heat, 144
Snow-line, alterations of, causing migration of plants, 516
Sollas, Mr. J. W., on greater intensity of telluric action in past time,
223
South Africa, recent glaciation of, 163
many northern genera of plants in, 524
its supposed connection with Australia, 525
South American plants in New Zealand, 521
South Temperate America, poor in species, 53
climate of, 146
Southern flora, comparative tenderness of, 528
Southern plants, why absent in the Northern Hemisphere, 527
Space, temperature of, 129
Specialisation antagonistic to diffusion of _species_, 505
Species, origin of new, 56
extinction of, 63
rise and decay of, 64
epoch of exceptional stability of, 232
dying out and replacement of, 409
preservation of, in islands, 410
Specific areas, 14; discontinuous, 64
_Spiranthes romanzoviana_, 364
Spitzbergen, Miocene flora of, 184
absence of boulder-beds in, 187
Spruce, Dr. Richard, on the dispersion of hepaticae, 309
Stability of extreme glacial conditions, 159
Stainton, Mr. H. T., on peculiar British moths, 346-350
Stanivoi mountains, why not ice-clad, 154
Starlings, genera of, in New Zealand, 482
_Stellaria media_, temporary appearance of, 515
Sternum, process of abortion of keel of, 437
Stow, Mr. G. W., on glacial phenomena in South Africa, 163
Stratified rocks formed near shores, 85, 87
deposits, how formed, 218
Striated rocks, 107
blocks in the Permian formation, 200
_Striae flammea_, range of, 15
Struthiones, 30
Struthious birds of New Zealand as indicating past changes, 478
Stylidium, wide range of, 185
Submerged forests, 334
{562}
Subsidence of isthmus of Panama, 151
Sumatra, geology of, 385
Sweden, two deposits of "till" in, 121
Swimming powers of mammalia, 74
Swinhoe, Mr. Robert, researches in Formosa, 400
Switzerland, interglacial warm periods in, 121
Sylviadae, overlapping genera of, 29
T.
Talpidae, a Palaearctic group, 41
Tapirs, distribution of, 25
former wide range of, 393
Tarsius, 63
_Tarsius spectrum_ in Celebes, 456
Tasmania and North Australia, resemblance of, 5
route of Arctic plants to, 520
_Taxodium distichum_ in Spitzbergen, 184
Temperate climates in Arctic regions, 181
Australian genera of plants in New Zealand, 502
Australian species of plants in New Zealand, 502
Temperature, how dependent on sun's distance, 129
of space, 129
Tertiary glacial epochs, evidence against, 179
warm climates, continuous, 187
Test of glaciation at any period, 175
_Testudo abingdonii_, 279
_T. microphyes_, 278
Tetraogallus, distribution of, 24
Thais, a Palaearctic genus, 42
Thomson, Sir William, on age of the earth, 213
Sir Wyville, on organisms in the globigerina-ooze, 89
analysis of globigerina-ooze, 91
_Thryothorus bewickii_, discontinuity of, 68
"Till" of Scotland, 112
several distinct formations of, 121
Tits, distribution of species of, 19
Torreya, fossil in Spitzbergen, 186
Tortoises of the Galapagos, 278
Trade-winds, how modified by a glacial epoch, 142
Tragulidae, 27
Travelled blocks, 109
Tremarctos, an isolated genus, 29
Triassic warm Arctic climate, 200
Tribonyx not a New Zealand genus, 483
Trichoptera peculiar to Britain, 355
Trogons, distribution of, 28
Tropical affinities of New Zealand birds, 483
character of the New Zealand flora, cause of, 500
genera common to New Zealand and Australia, 501
Turdus, 17, 26
_Turdus fuscescens_, variation of, 58, 59
Tylor, A., on estimating the rate of denudation, 214
Tyrannidae, an American family, 50
U.
Uraniidae, 28
Uropeltidae, 30
Urotrichus, distribution of, 25
Ursus, 26
V.
Variation in animals, 57
amount of, in N. American birds, 58
Vegetation, local peculiarities of, 185
effects of Polar night on, 198
_Vesperugo serotinus_, range of, 14
_Vireo bellii_, supposed discontinuity of, 68
Vireonidae, an American family, 49
W.
Wallich, Dr., on habitat of globigerinae, 92
Warren, Mr. W., information on British lepidoptera, 347
Water, properties of, in relation to climate, 131, 133
Waterhouse, Mr., on Galapagos beetles, 284
Wales, peculiar fish of, 341
Warm climates of northern latitudes, long persistence of, 201
Watson, Mr. H. C., on the flora of the Azores, 256
on peculiar British plants, 359
on vegetation of railway banks, 513
Webb, Mr., on comparison of Mars and the Earth, 166
West Australia, rich flora of, 494
former extent and isolation of, 497
West Indies, a Neotropical district, 53
White, Dr. F. Buchanan, on the Hemiptera of St. Helena, 303
Mr. John, on native accounts of the moa, 477
Whitehead, Mr. John, on Bornean birds, 377
Wilson, Mr. Scott B., on birds of the Sandwich Islands, 314
Winged birds of New Zealand, 482
Wingless birds never inhabit continents, 437
their evidence against "Lemuria," 438
of New Zealand, 476
Wings of struthious birds show retrograde development, 437
{563}
Winter temperature of Europe and America, 196
Wolf, range of, 14
Wollaston, Mr. T. V., on insular character of St. Helena, 294
on St. Helena shells and insects, 297
Wood, Mr. Searles V., jun., on formation of "till," 114
on alternations of climate, 118
on causes of glacial epochs, 125
conclusive objection to the excentricity theory, 160
on continuous warm Tertiary climates, 180
Woodward, Dr. S. P., on Ammonites living in shallow water, 95
Woodward, Mr., on "Lemuria," 426
Wright, Dr. Percival, on lizards of the Seychelles, 431
Y.
Young, Professor J., on contemporaneous formation of deposits, 221
Young Island, lofty Antarctic, 522
Z.
Zoology of the Azores, 248
of Bermuda, 262
of the Sandwich Islands, 313
of Borneo, 376
of Madagascar, 416
of islands round Celebes, 453
of Celebes, 455
Zoological and geographical regions compared, 32, 54
Zoological features of Japan, 393
character of New Zealand, 473
THE END
{564}
RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON AND BUNGAY.
* * * * *
[1] A small number of species belonging to the West Indies are found in the
extreme southern portion of the Florida Peninsula.
[2] I cannot avoid here referring to the enormous waste of labour and money
with comparatively scanty and unimportant results to natural history of
most of the great scientific voyages of the various civilized governments
during the present century. All these expeditions combined have done far
less than private collectors in making known the products of remote lands
and islands. They have brought home fragmentary collections, made in widely
scattered localities, and these have been usually described in huge folios
or quartos, whose value is often in inverse proportion to their bulk and
cost. The same species have been collected again and again, often described
several times over under new names, and not unfrequently stated to be from
places they never inhabited. The result of this wretched system is that the
productions of some of the most frequently visited and most interesting
islands on the globe are still very imperfectly known, while their native
plants and animals are being yearly exterminated, and this is the case even
with countries under the rule or protection of European governments. Such
are the Sandwich Islands, Tahiti, the Marquesas, the Philippine Islands,
and a host of smaller ones; while Bourbon and Mauritius, St. Helena, and
several others, have only been adequately explored after an important
portion of their productions has been destroyed by cultivation or the
reckless introduction of goats and pigs. The employment in each of our
possessions, and those of other European powers, of a resident naturalist
at a very small annual expense, would have done more for the advancement of
knowledge in this direction than all the expensive expeditions that have
again and again circumnavigated the globe.
[3] The general facts of Palaeontology, as bearing on the migrations of
animal groups, are summarised in my _Geographical Distribution of Animals_,
Vol. I. Chapters VI., VII., and VIII.
[4] Since these lines were written, a fine series of specimens of this rare
humming-bird has been obtained from the same locality. (See _Proc. Zool.
Soc._ 1881, pp. 827-834.)
[5] Many of these large genera are now subdivided, the divisions being
sometimes termed genera, sometimes sub-genera.
[6] The Palaearctic region includes temperate Asia and Europe, as will be
explained in the next chapter.
[7] The following list of the genera of reptiles and amphibia peculiar to
the Palaearctic Region has been furnished me by Mr. G. A. Boulenger, of the
British Museum:--
SNAKES. FROGS AND TOADS.
_Achalinus_--China, Japan. _Pelobates_--Eur., S.W. Asia.
_Coelopeltis_--S. Eur., N. Af., _Pelodytes_--W. Europe.
S.W. Asia. _Discoglossus_--S. Eur., N.W. Af.
_Macroprotodon_--S. Eur., N. Af. _Bombinator_--Eur., Temp. Asia.
_Taphrometopon_--Cent. Asia. _Alytus_--Cent. and W. Eur.
LIZARDS. NEWTS.
_Phrynocephalus_--Cent. and S.W. _Salamandra_--Eur., N. Af., S.W.
Asia. Asia.
_Anguis_--Europe, W. Asia. _Chioglossa_--Spain and Portugal.
_Blanus_--S.W. Eur., N.W. Africa, _Salamandrina_--Italy.
S.W. Asia. _Pachytriton_--East Thibet.
_Trogonophis_--N.W. Africa. _Hynobius_--China and Japan.
_Lacerta_--Eur., Temp. Asia, N. _Geomolge_--E. Manchuria.
Africa (one sp. in _Onychodactylus_--Japan.
W. Af.). _Salamandrella_--Siberia.
_Psammodromus_--S.W. Eur., N.W. _Ranidens_--Siberia.
Africa. _Batrachyperus_--East Thibet.
_Algiroides_--S. Eur. _Myalobatrachus_--China, Japan.
_Proteus_--Caverns of S. Austria.
[8] Remains of the dingo have been found fossil in Pleistocene deposits but
the antiquity of man in Australia is not known. It is not, however,
improbable that it may be as great as in Europe. My friend A. C. Swinton,
Esq., while working in the then almost unknown gold-field of Maryborough,
Victoria, in January, 1855, found a fragment of a well-formed stone axe
resting on the metamorphic schistose bed-rock about five feet beneath the
surface. It was overlain by the compact gravel drift called by the miners
"cement," and by an included layer of hard iron-stained sandstone. The
fragment is about an inch and three-eighths wide and the same length, and
is of very hard fine-grained black basalt. One side is ground to a very
smooth and regular surface, terminating in a well-formed cutting edge more
than an inch long, the return face of the cutting part being about a
quarter of an inch wide. The other side is a broken surface. The weapon
appears to have been an axe or tomahawk closely resembling that figured at
p. 335 of Lumholtz's _Among Cannibals_, from Central Queensland. The
fragment was discovered by Mr. Swinton and the late Mr. Mackworth Shore,
one of the discoverers of the gold-field, before any rush to it had taken
place, and it seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that it was formed
prior to the deposit of the gravel drift and iron-stained sandstone under
which it lay. This would indicate a great antiquity of man in Australia,
and would enable us to account for the fossilised remains of the dingo in
Pleistocene deposits as those of an animal introduced by man.
[9] These facts are taken from a memoir on _The Mammals and Winter Birds of
Florida_, by J. A. Allen; forming Vol. II., No. 3, of the Bulletin of the
Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
[10] The great variation in wild animals is more fully discussed and
illustrated in the author's _Darwinism_ (Chapter III.).
[11] See _Ibis_, 1879, p. 32.
[12] In Mr. Seebohm's latest work, _Birds of the Japanese Empire_ (1890),
he says, "Examples from North China are indistinguishable from those
obtained in Greece" (p. 82).
[13] _Ibis_, 1879, p. 40. In his _Birds of the Japanese Empire_ (1890), Mr.
Seebohm classes the Japanese and European forms as _E. schoeniclus_, and
thinks that their range is probably continuous across the two continents.
[14] Lyell's _Principles of Geology_, ii., p. 369.
[15] Mr. Darwin found that the large _Helix pomatia_ lived after immersion
in sea-water for twenty days. It is hardly likely that this is the extreme
limit of their powers of endurance, but even this would allow of their
being floated many hundred miles at a stretch, and if we suppose the shell
to be partially protected in the crevice of a log of wood, and to be thus
out of water in calm weather, the distance might extend to a thousand miles
or more. The eggs of fresh-water mollusca, as well as the young animals,
are known to attach themselves to the feet of aquatic birds, and this is
probably the most efficient cause of their very wide diffusion.
[16] _Principles of Geology_, 11th Ed., Vol. I., p. 258.
[17] On Limestone as an Index of Geological Time.
[18] In his _Preliminary Report on Oceanic Deposit_, Mr. Murray says:--"It
has been found that the deposits taking place near continents and islands
have received their chief characteristics from the presence of the _debris_
of adjacent lands. In some cases these deposits extend to a distance of
over 150 miles from the coast." (_Proceedings of the Royal Society_, Vol.
XXIV. p. 519.)
"The materials in suspension appear to be almost entirely deposited within
200 miles of the land." (_Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_,
1876-77, p. 253.)
[19] _Geographical Evolution. (Proceedings of the Royal Geographical
Society._ 1879, p. 426.)
[20] Professor Dana was, I believe, the first to point out that the regions
which, after long undergoing subsidence and accumulating vast piles of
sedimentary deposit have been elevated into mountain ranges, thereby become
stiff and unyielding, and that the next depression and subsequent upheaval
will be situated on one or the other sides of it; and he has shown that, in
North America, this is the case with all the mountains of the successive
geological formations. Thus, depressions, and elevations of extreme
slowness but often of vast amount, have occurred successively in restricted
adjacent areas; and the effect has been to bring each portion in succession
beneath the ocean but always bordered on one or both sides by the remainder
of the continent, from the denudation of which the deposits are formed
which, on the subsequent upheaval, become mountain ranges. (_Manual of
Geology_, 2nd Ed., p. 751.)
[21] _Nature_, Vol. II., p. 297.
[22] Sir W. Thomson, _Voyage of Challenger_, Vol. II., p. 374.
[23] The following is the analysis of the chalk at Oahu:--
Carbonate of Lime 92.800 per cent.
Carbonate of Magnesia 2.385 ,,
Alumina 0.250 ,,
Oxide of Iron 0.543 ,,
Silica 0.750 ,,
Phosphoric Acid and Fluorine 2.113 ,,
Water and loss 1.148 ,,