Chap, xxii.] IXSULAR FLORA AND FAUNA. 



SI9 



basis of all life, is a production entirely confined to our small 

 planet. 



That the " Challenger " Expedition has been a great scientific 

 success has been fully acknowledged, and all praise is due to 

 the Government which promoted it, and to the present Govern- 

 ment which has supplied funds for the publication of the results. 

 The highest praise is, however, due to those naturalists, espe- 

 cially Sir Wyville Thomson and Ur. Carpenter, who, by their 

 energy and perseverance, actually originated the Expedition. 



With regard to any future scientific expeditions, it would, 

 however, be well to bear in mind that the deep sea, its physical 

 features and its fauna, will remain for an indefinite period in 

 the condition in which they now exist and as they have existed 

 for ages past, with little or no change, to be investigated at 

 leisure at any future time. On the surface of the earth, how- 

 ever, animals and plants and races of men are perishing rapidly 

 day by day, and will soon be, like the Dodo, things of the past. 

 The history of these things once gone can never be recovered, 

 but must remain for ever a gap in the knowledge of mankind. 



The loss will be most deeply felt in the province of Anthro- 

 pology, a science which is of higher importance to us than any 

 other, as treating of the developmental history of our own 

 species. The languages of Polynesia are being rapidly destroyed 

 or mutilated, and the opportunity of obtaining accurate infor- 

 mation concerning these and the native habits of culture will 

 soon have passed away. 



The urgent necessity of the present day is a scientific circum- 

 navigating expedition which shall visit the least-known inhabited 

 islands of the Pacific, and at the same time explore the series 

 of islands and island groups which yet remain almost or 

 entirely unknown as regards their botany and zoology. These 

 promise to yield results of the highest interest if only the matter 

 be taken in hand in time, before introduced weeds and goats 

 have destroyed their natural vegetation ; dogs, cats and pigs, 

 their animals, and their human inhabitants have been swept 

 away, or have had their individuality merged in the onward 

 press of European enterprise. There is still, to the disgrace 

 of British enterprise, even in the Atlantic Ocean, an island 

 the fauna and flora of which are as yet absolutely unknown. 

 The past history of the deep sea, of the changes of depression 

 and elevation of its bottom, is to be sought to a large extent in 

 the study of the animals and plants inhabiting the islands 

 which rear their summits above its surface. These insular 

 floras and faunas will soon pass away, but the deep-sea animals 

 will very possibly remain unchanged from their present con- 

 dition long after man has died out. 



