CHARLES DARWIN 



CHAPTER VII 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



18431882 

 (Continued) 



J. D. Hooker to C. Darwin. Letter 378 



Kew, Jan. 2Oth, 1867. 



Prof. Miquel, of Utrecht, begs me to ask you for your 

 carte, and offers his in return. I grieve to bother you on 

 such a subject. I am sick and tired of this carte corre- 

 spondence. I cannot conceive what Humboldt's Pyrenean 

 violet is : no such is mentioned in Webb, and no alpine one 

 at all. I am sorry I forgot to mention the stronger African 

 affinity of the eastern Canary Islands. Thank you for 

 mentioning it. I cannot admit, without further analysis, that 

 most of the peculiar Atlantic Islands genera were derived 

 from Europe, and have since become extinct there. I have 

 rather thought that many are only altered forms of existing 

 European genera; but this is a very difficult point, and 

 would require a careful study of such genera and allies with 

 this object in view. The subject has often presented itself to 

 me as a grand one for analytic botany. No doubt its estab- 

 lishment would account for the community of the peculiar 

 genera on the several groups and islets, but whilst so many 

 species are common we must allow for a good deal of migra- 

 tion of peculiar genera too. 



By Jove ! I will write out next mail to the Governor of 

 St. Helena for boxes of earth, and you shall have them to 

 VOL. II. * I 



