eir
wings. And similarly, of course, with all the peculiar species of the
Bermudas and the Azores. For who will explain, on the theory of
independent creation, why all the peculiar species, both of animals and
plants, which occur on the Bermudas should so unmistakably present
American affinities, while those which occur on the Azores no less
unmistakably present European affinities? But to proceed to other, and
still more remarkable, cases.

_The Galapagos Islands._--This archipelago is of volcanic origin,
situated under the equator between 500 and 600 miles from the West Coast
of South America. The depth of the ocean around them varies from 2,000
to 3,000 fathoms or more. This group is of particular interest, from the
fact that it was the study of its fauna which first suggested to
Darwin's mind the theory of evolution. I will, therefore, begin by
quoting a short passage from his writings upon the zoological relations
of this particular fauna.

Here almost every product of the land and of the water bears the
unmistakeable stamp of the American continent. There are twenty-six
land birds; of these, twenty-one, or perhaps twenty-three, are
ranked as distinct species, and would commonly be assumed to have
been here created; yet the close affinity of most of these birds to
American species is manifest in every character, in their habits,
gestures, and tones of voice. So it is with the other animals, and
with a large proportion of the plants, as shown by Dr. Hooker in
his admirable 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 plainly the 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 closely resembles the
conditions of the South American coast; in fact, there is a
considerable dissimilarity in all these respects. On the other
hand, there is a considerable degree of resemblance in the volcanic
nature of the soil, in the climate