276 OBITUARY we 
that is, as far as pure Geology is concerned—by 
the delightful number of new views which have 
been coming in thickly and steadily—on the 
classification and affinities and instincts of animals : 
—hbearing on the question of species. Note-book 
after note-book has been filled with facts which 
begin to group themselves clearly under sub-laws.” 
(I. p. 298.) 
The problem which was to be Darwin’s chiefly 
subject of occupation for the rest of his life thus 
presented itself, at first, mainly under its distribu-_ 
tional aspect. Why do species present certain re- 
lations in space and in time? Why are the 
animals and plants of the Galapagos Archipelago 
so like those of South America and yet different 
from them? Why are those of the several islets 
more or less different from one another? Why 
are the animals of the latest geological epoch in 
South America similar in facies to those which 
exist in the same region at the present day, and 
yet specifically or generically different ? 
The reply to these questions, which was almost 
universally received fifty years ago, was that ani- 
mals and plants were created such as they are; 
and that their present distribution, at any rate so 
far as terrestrial organisms are concerned, has been — 
effected by the migration of their ancestors from : 
ought to be occupied with a less attractive subject. Though it 
sounds paradoxical, there is a good deal to be said in favour of : 
this view of pleasant work, : 
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