reation
and genetic descent.

* * * * *

_Azores._--A group of volcanic islands, nine in number, about 900 miles
from the coast of Portugal, and surrounded by ocean depths of 1,800 to
2,500 fathoms. There is geological evidence that the origin of the group
dates back at least as far as Miocene times. There is a total absence of
all terrestrial Vertebrata, other than those which are known to have
been introduced by man. Flying animals, on the other hand, are abundant;
namely, 53 species of birds, one species of bat, a few species of
butterflies, moths, and hymenoptera, with 74 species of indigenous
beetles. All these animals are unmodified European species, with the
exception of one bird and many of the beetles. Of the 74 indigenous
species of the latter, 36 are not found in Europe; but 19 are natives of
Madeira or the Canaries, and 3 are American, doubtless transplanted by
drift-wood. The remaining 14 species occur nowhere else in the world,
though for the most part they are allied to other European species.
There are 69 known species of land-shells, of which 37 are European, and
32 peculiar, though all allied to European forms. Lastly, there are 480
known species of plants, of which 40 are peculiar, though allied to
European species.

_Bermudas._--A small volcanic group of islands, 700 miles from North
Carolina. Although there are about 100 islands in the group, their total
area does not exceed 50 square miles. The group is surrounded by water
varying in depth from 2,500 to 3,800 fathoms. The only terrestrial
Vertebrate (unless the rats and mice are indigenous) is a lizard allied
to an American form, but specifically distinct from it, and therefore a
solitary species which does not occur anywhere else in the world. None
of the birds or bats are peculiar, any more than in the case of the
Azores; but, as in that case, a large percentage of the land-shells are
so--namely, at least one quarter of the whole. Neither the botany nor
the entomology of this group has been worked out; but I have said enough
to show how remarkably parallel are the cases of these two volcanic
groups of islands situated in different hemispheres, but at about the
same distance from large continents. In both there is an extraordinary
paucity of terrestrial vertebrata, and of any peculiar species of bird
or beast. On the other hand, there is in both a marvellous wealth of
peculiar species of insects and land-shells. N