CH. IV] KERGUELEN AND THE GALAPAGOS. 195 



genus is widely spread in the antarctic region of the 

 globe l . 



There are five striking points about the fauna of 

 Kerguelen which may be emphasised. In the first place 

 of course, the poverty of the fauna. Secondly, the immense 

 number (relatively speaking) of peculiar genera ; thirdly, 

 the fact that there is only one terrestrial species (exclud- 

 ing birds) which is not peculiar to the island; and fourthly, 

 that the fresh-water species are not so peculiar as the 

 purely terrestrial. The fact that the Coleoptera are 

 without the second pair of wings the pair which are 

 used for flying in the normal Coleoptera and that there 

 is a moth with rudimentary wings, completes the more 

 remarkable facts which characterise the indigenous in- 

 habitants of Kerguelen. 



The Fauna of the Galapagos. 



The Galapagos are a group of sixteen islands, five 

 larger and eleven small islands situated to the west of 

 the South American continent, about 600 miles from the 

 coast of Ecuador. They have been explored more than 

 once with a view to their fauna. The most recent account 

 of them is from the pen of Dr Baur 2 , who made a careful 

 study of the entire fauna. 



As is the case with Kerguelen, the rocks of which the 

 Galapagos are built up are entirely volcanic ; they consist 

 of basaltic rocks, masses of scoriae, and lavas ; but there 



1 See p. 60. ~ American Naturalist, 1892. 



132 



