ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE 333 



attached to a twig as almost certainly to deceive the eye even when gazing full upon 

 it. I captured several specimens on the wing, and was able fully to understand the 

 way in which this wonderful resemblance is produced. . . .All these varied details 

 combine to produce a disguise that is so complete and marvelous as to astonish 

 every one who observes it: and the habits of the insects are such as to utilize all 

 these peculiarities, and render them available in such a manner as to remove all 

 doubt of the purpose of this singular case of mimicry, which is undoubtedly a pro- 

 tection to the insect. 



Another line in which Wallace ranks as one of the greatest naturalists 

 is the geographic distribution of animals, beginning with his earliest observa- 

 tions in the Malay Archipelago of 1869 and closing with the publication of 

 his charming book Island Life, which appeared in 1881. 



Wallace like Darwin enjoyed the closing years of his life in the quiet 

 surroundings of a beautiful English country home, and continued even to 

 his ninety-first year to be a great force in the world's thought. His powers 

 as a writer were prodigious and in rapid succession in his later years he 

 brought out his volumes My Life, the Wonderful Century, the World of 

 Life, and Social Environment and Moral Progress. In the World of Life 

 he no longer believes in the Darwinian explanation of natural selection as 

 adequate to account for the wonderful adaptations which we find in the 

 animal world. He regards life as " a manifestation of creative power, direc- 

 tive mind and ultimate purpose." He thus returns in his later years to the 

 teachings of his boyhood, to those which prevailed before the publication of 

 the Origin of Species. His final creed is found in one of the closing para- 

 graphs of the World of Life (p. 421) : 



In the present work I have endeavoured to suggest a reason which appeals to me 

 as both a sufficient and an intelligible one: it is that this earth with its infinitude 

 of fife and beauty and mystery, and the universe in the midst of which we are placed, 

 with its overwhelming immensities of suns and nebula?, of light and motion, are as 

 they are, firstly, for the development of fife culminating in man; secondly, as a vast 

 6chool-house for the higher education of the human race in preparation for the 

 enduring spiritual life to which it is destined. 



