Geographical Distribtition. 237 



these three oceanic territories, all are peculiar, with 

 the exception of a single land-bird which is found in 

 the Galapagos Islands. This is the rice-bird, so very 

 abundant on the American continent that its repre- 

 sentatives must not unfrequently become the invo- 

 luntary colonists of the Archipelago. There are, 

 however, a few species of non-peculiar insects in- 

 habiting the Sandwich and Galapagos Islands, the 

 exact number of which is doubtful, and on this 

 account are not here quoted. But at most they 

 would be represented by units, and therefore do not 

 affect the general result. Lastly, the remarkable 

 fact will be noted, that there is no single represen- 

 tative of the mammalian class in any of these islands. 

 If we turn next to consider the case of plants, we 

 obtain the following result : — 



Peculiar Non-peculiar 

 Species. Species. 



Sandwich 377 243 



Galapagos 174 158 



St. Helena 50 26 



Totals 60 



427 



So that by adding together peculiar species both 

 of land-animals and plants we find that on these 

 three limited areas alone there are 1258 forms of life 

 which occur nowhere else upon the globe — not to 

 speak of the peculiar aquatic species, nor of the 

 presumably large number of peculiar species of all 

 kinds not hitherto discovered in these imperfectly 

 explored regions. 



Now let us compare these facts with those which 

 are presented by the faunas and floras of islands less 



