5o 



NA TURE 



[May 17, 1888 



are not confined to this zone, but ascend above and 

 descend below it. It is the home of all Rutaceous and 

 most Araliaceous trees, the ubiquitous Dodoncea viscosa, 

 Alphitonia, and Coprosma. The ferns luxuriate in it, and 

 tree-ferns attain only here their full dimensions. Old 

 trunks are wrapped in creeping ferns, mosses, and lichens. 

 Here also the Lobeliacecz, the peculiar pride of our flora, 

 exhibit their most striking forms, invariably in isolated 

 individuals. The upper limit of this zone may be drawn 

 at an elevation of 5000 to 6000 feet. 



" (4) The Upper Forest Zone. — This extends as high as 

 8000 to 9000 feet, and is characterized by stunted trees, 

 chiefly Sophora chrysophylla, Cyathodes, Myoporum, 

 arborescent Raillardice, Wikstromice, and Coprosma 

 Menziesii. Between them luxuriate shrubby Composite 

 {Raillardia, Dubautia, Camphylotheca, and Artemisia), 

 with strawberries, brambles, and Vacci?iium. Ferns are 

 scarce, and mostly belong to widely spread species .Our 

 shrubby Geraniums and silvery-leaved Argyroxiphium 

 extend beyond this zone to the upper limit of vegetation, 

 which on Mauna Kea may be placed at 11,000 feet. 

 Santalum belongs to this zone and the upper levels of 

 the last. 



" (5) A place apart must be assigned to the bog flora of 

 the high table-land of Kaui and the broad top of Mount 

 Eeka, on West Maui. The turfy soil is covered with 

 tussock-like Graminece and Cyperacece, all endemic 

 species, with Sphagnum, creeping forms of woody 

 Metrosideros, Cyathodes, Geranium, Lysimachia, and a 

 number of rare, mostly single, representatives of genera 

 which have their home in the Antarctic regions, New 

 Zealand, the Falkland Islands, and the Southern Andes." 



As a whole the flora of the Sandwich Islands stands 

 out remarkably isolated from those of the two nearest 

 great botanical regions, Polynesia and Central America, 

 and has curious affinities with those of Australia, North 

 America, the north temperate zone of the Old World, the 

 Mexican highlands, the Andes, and the Antarctic regions. 

 The subject is well worth working out in the same 

 thorough way in which Sir J. D. Hooker has dealt with 

 the floras of Tasmania and New Zealand. 



Dr. Hillebrand's book is also valuable as a contribution 

 to the study of varieties. In the Sandwich Islands we 

 get a comparatively small number of species, that have 

 lived for a long time in a country where there are great 

 variations in temperature and humidity and little inter- 

 ference from man. In many of the endemic genera the 

 species are very difficult to individualize, and he has 

 named and characterized a great number of varieties. 

 Altogether the book is of exceptional value, not only to 

 the systematic botanist, but to all who are interested in 

 the problems connected with the origin and distribution 

 of species. J. G. Baker. 



THE GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES OF 

 EVOLUTION. 



The Geological Evidences of Evolution. By Angelo 

 Heilprin, Professor of Invertebrate Palaeontology at 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 

 ( Philadelphia : Published by the Author, 1888.) 

 pEW chapters in the "Origin of Species" are more 

 ■*- impressive, from their perfect candour and their 

 far-sighted prescience, than those dealing with the ob- 

 jections which might be urged against the author's hypo- 

 thesis, on the ground of the comparatively small pakeonto- 

 logical evidence in its favour. But this evidence, as every 



student knows, has been almost surprisingly strength- 

 ened and augmented during the thirty years which have 

 elapsed since the publication of Darwin's great work. It 

 is, however, owing to the nature of the case, scattered up 

 and down various scientific periodicals, many of which 

 are practically inaccessible to the general public, so that 

 both its amount and its force are under-estimated, and 

 the old objections are confidently reiterated by that still 

 numerous class to whom " Darwinism" is a bugbear, and 

 the very name of "evolution" an absolute abomination. 

 As Prof. Heilprin states in his preface, "There has not 

 thus far appeared, to the knowledge of the author, any 

 collective or consecutive statement of the evidence which 

 geology and palaeontology present in support of organic 

 transmutation ; " so " with the view of partially filling 

 this gap in the literature of Darwinism, the author has 

 prepared, at the request of many of his friends, the fol- 

 lowing pages, which represent, somewhat broadened, the 

 substance of a Friday evening discourse delivered at the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia." Thus 

 this little book, while scientific in conception and method, 

 is popular in style. While there is no attempt at an 

 appeal to prejudices, scientific terminology is as far as 

 may be avoided, and the illustrations appended enable 

 any reader, with a very moderate knowledge of natural 

 history and palaeontology, to comprehend the line of 

 reasoning followed by the author. 



It is needless to add that he is a thorough going evo- 

 lutionist, though, like his master, he is candid in admitting 

 defects in the record, and transitions which as yet are 

 merely hypothetical. In one case, however, he ventures 

 on a statement which seems to us over bold : " It is not 

 my purpose to-night to discuss the status of evolution, 

 which has long since passed from the realm of pure 

 and simple theory, but to present to you such of the more 

 salient facts bearing upon its proof, drawn from my own 

 department of geology and palaeontology, as will permit 

 you to understand why the greater number of naturalists 

 consider the doctrine as firmly established to-day as is 

 the Copernican theory of planetary revolution, the theory 

 of gravitation, or the undulatory theory of light." 



We cannot but think that, in making this confident 

 assertion, Prof. Heilprin has exposed a joint in his har- 

 ness to the arrows of his adversaries. In years to come, 

 evolution, as stated by Darwin, may assume, probably 

 will assume, the position of the above-named theories in 

 physical science, but surely the evidence for it is not yet 

 either so complete or so conclusive as for them. Hence 

 it is unwise thus abruptly to exclude any possible modi- 

 fication or supplement. In scientific arguments it is better 

 not to imitate the practices of political orators, but to err, 

 if at all, on the side of understating rather than of over- 

 stating a conviction, and to impress by caution in 

 reasoning rather than to dazzle by rhetoric. 



This, however, is a matter of opinion : we pass on to 

 indicate briefly the line of argument followed by Prof. 

 Heilprin. At the outset he calls attention to two mis- 

 conceptions relating to evolution which are widely preva- 

 lent, and are often made the ground of assaults upon the 

 hypothesis. These are : that if the missing forms of life 

 could all be recovered, they would form a continuous 

 chain, and that " the progressive modification of individual 

 organic forms need be, or indeed has been, one of con- 



