310 
ORIGIN OF LIFE IN AMERICA 
seven hundred feet the scenery changes completely. A fresh 
and moisture-laden wind greets us from the south-east, the 
ground is covered with short dense grasses, evergreen, shady 
little woods are dotted about here and there, and the flora 
as a whole is quite different from that below. Those ac¬ 
quainted with the flora of Ecuador will feel as if transplanted 
to the woods of the Paramo region, which flourish at a height 
of about 9,000 feet. The most striking character of the 
flora is its strong endemism, every one of the larger islands 
having its peculiar species, which do not range to the 
others even when the islands are in close proximity to one 
another. 
From Dr. Wolf’s graphic description we can gather valu¬ 
able information. In its strongly endemic character the flora 
of the archipelago agrees perfectly with the fauna. As among 
the animals so it has been noticed among the plants that the 
various islands all possess their own species, though the latter 
are related to one another. But, in answer to our inquiries 
into the causes of this singular distribution, we are told by 
Dr. Wolf that he concurs with Darwin in the belief that the 
islands received their plants, as well as their animals, by acci¬ 
dental means of transport. He does not specify these means 
of transport. Darwin * makes it perfectly clear to us that 
winds could not have played any part in it. “ As the archi¬ 
pelago is free to a remarkable degree,” he says, “from gales 
of wind, neither the birds, insects, nor lighter seeds, would 
be blown from island to island.” If the seeds were carried 
by marine currents from the mainland to the archipelago, 
how were they afterwards conveyed from the inhospitable 
shores of the islands across the almost absolute desert of 
the lowlands to the higher level ? We are unacquainted with 
any forces except wind, which would carry the seeds to a 
height of seven hundred feet, but Darwin expressly tells us 
the islands are remarkably free from wind. Moreover, w r e 
should expect the plants found at that height in the Galapagos 
islands to agree to some extent with the flora of the lowlands 
of the continent. Few, if any, seeds carried down by rivers 
would come from the highlands of the Andes. Yet the Gala- 
Darwin, C., “Journal of Researches,” p. 290. 
