Geographical Distribution. 227 



and the operation of natural selection, as will be 

 shown later on ; but it is not so easy for special 

 creationists to explain why this enormous number 

 of peculiar species of beetles should have been 

 deposited on Madeira, all allied to beetles on the 

 nearest continent, and nearly all deprived of the 

 use of their wings. And similarly, of course, with 

 all the peculiar species of the Bermudas and the 

 Azores. For who will explain, on the theory 

 of independent creation, why all the peculiar species, 

 both of animals and plants, which occur on the Ber- 

 mudas should so unmistakably present American 

 affinities, while those which occur on the Azores 

 no less unmistakably present European affinities? 

 But to proceed to other, and still more remarkable, 

 cases. 



The Galapagos Islands. This archipelago is of 

 volcanic origin, situated under the equator between 

 500 and 600 miles from the West Coast of South 

 America. The depth of the ocean around them 

 varies from 2,000 to 3,000 fathoms or more. This 

 group is of particular interest, from the fact that 

 it was the study of its fauna which first sug- 

 gested to Darwin's mind the theory of evolution. 

 I will, therefore, begin by quoting a short passage 

 from his writings upon the zoological relations of 

 this particular fauna. 



Here almost every product of the land and of the water bears 

 the unmistakeable stamp of the American continent. There 

 are twenty-six land birds; of these, twenty-one, or perhaps 

 twenty-three, are ranked as distinct species, and would com- 

 monly be assumed to have been here created; yet the close 

 affinity of most of these birds to American species is manifest in 

 every character, in their habits, gestures, and tones of voice. 



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