276 OBITUARY X 



that is, as far as pure Geology is concerned by 

 the delightful number of new views which have 

 been coming in thickly and steadily on the 

 classification and affinities and instincts of animals 

 bearing on the question of species. Note-book 

 after note-book has been filled with facts which 

 begin to group themselves clearly under sub-laws." 

 (I. p. 298.) 



The problem which was to be Darwin's chief 

 subject of occupation for the rest of his life thus 

 presented itself, at first, mainly under its distribu- 

 tional aspect. Why do species present certain re- 

 lations in space and in time ? Why are the 

 animals and plants of the Galapagos Archipelago 

 so like those of South America and yet different 

 from them ? Why are those of the several islets 

 more or less different from one another ? Why 

 are the animals of the latest geological epoch in 

 South America similar in fades to those which 

 exist in the same region at the present day, and 

 yet specifically or generically different ? 



The reply to these questions, which was almost 

 universally received fifty years ago, was that ani- 

 mals and plants were created such as they are ; 

 and that their present distribution, at any rate so 

 far as terrestrial organisms are concerned, has been 

 effected by the migration of their ancestors from 



ought to be occupied with a less attractive subject. Though it 

 sounds paradoxical, there is a good deal to be said in favour of 

 this view of pleasant work. 



