374 
DARWINISM 
CHAP. XII 
in almost all the tropical oceanic islands; but the particular 
mode in which they are able to traverse a wide expanse of 
ocean, which is a perfect barrier to batrachia and almost so to 
snakes, has not yet been discovered. Lizards are found in all 
the larger Pacific Islands as far as Tahiti, while snakes do not 
extend beyond the Fiji Islands; and the latter are also absent 
from Mauritius and Bourbon, where lizards of seven or eight 
species abound. Naturalists resident in the Pacific Islands 
would make a valuable contribution to our science by study¬ 
ing the life-history of the native lizards, and endeavouring to 
ascertain the special facilities they possess for crossing over 
wide spaces of ocean. 
