312 EVOLUTION AND ANIMAL LIFE 



to those of the neighboring coast of Africa, and wholly unlike 

 those of the Galapagos? If the animals were created to match 

 their conditions of life, then those of the Galapagos should be 

 like those of Cape Verde, the two archipelagoes being extremely 

 alike in soil, climate, and physical surroundings. If the species 

 on the islands are products of separate acts of creation, what is 

 there in the nearness of the coasts of Africa or Peru to influence 

 the act of creation so as to cause the island species to be, as it 

 were, echoes of those on shore? 



If, on the other hand, we should adopt the obvious sug- 

 gestion that both these clusters of islands have been colonized 

 by immigrants from the mainland, the fact of uniformity of 

 type is accounted for, but what of the difference of species? 

 If the change of conditions from continent to island causes 

 such great and permanent changes as to form new species from 

 the old, why may not like changes take place on the mainlands 

 as well as on the islands? And if possible on the mainland of 

 South America, what evidence have we that species are perma- 

 nent anywhere? May they not be constantly changing? May 

 what we now consider as distinct species be only the present 

 phase in the changing history of the series of forms which con- 

 stitute the species? 



The studies of island life can lead but to one conclusion: 

 These volcanic islands rose from the sea destitute of land life. 

 They were settled by the waifs of wind and of storm, birds 

 blown from the shore bv trade winds, lizards and insects carried 

 on drift logs and floating vegetation. Of these waifs few came 

 perhaps in any one year, and few, perhaps, of those who came 

 made the islands their home; yet, as the centuries passed on, 

 suitable inhabitants were found. That this is not fancy we 

 know, for we have the knowledge of specific examples of the 

 very same sort. We know how many animals are carried from 

 their natural homes. One example of this may be seen by 

 those who have approached our eastern shores by sea in the 

 face of a storm. Many land birds — sparrows, warblers, chick- 

 adees, and even woodpeckers — are carried out b}- the wind, 

 a few falling exhausted on the decks of ships, a few others fall- 

 ing on offshore islands, like the Bermudas, the remainder 

 drowning in the sea. 



Of the immigrants to the Galapagos the majority doubtless 

 die and leave no sign. A few remain, multiply, and take 



