228 Darwin, and after Darwin. 



So it is with the other animals, and with a large proportion of 

 the plants, as shown by Dr. Hooker in his admirable Flora of 

 this archipelago. The naturalist, looking at the inhabitants 

 of these volcanic islands in the Pacific, distant several hundred 

 miles from the continent, feels that he is standing on American 

 land. Why should this be so ? Why should the species which 

 are supposed to have been created in the Galapagos Archi- 

 pelago, and nowhere else, bear so plainly the stamp of affinity 

 to those created in America? There is nothing in the con- 

 ditions of life, in the geological nature of the islands, in their 

 height or climate, or in the proportions in which the several 

 classes are associated together, which closely resembles the 

 conditions of the South American coast ; in fact, there is a 

 considerable dissimilarity in all these respects. On the other 

 hand, there is a considerable degree of resemblance in the 

 volcanic nature of the soil, in the climate, height, and size of 

 the islands, between the Galapagos and Cape de Verde Archi- 

 pelagoes ; but what an entire and absolute difference in their 

 inhabitants! The inhabitants of the Cape de Verde Islands 

 are related to those of Africa, like those of the Galapagos to 

 America. Facts such as these admit of no sort of explanation 

 on the ordinary view of independent creation ; whereas on the 

 view here maintained, it is obvious that the Galapagos Islands 

 would be likely to receive colonists from America, and the Cape 

 de Verde Islands from Africa ; such colonists would be liable to 

 modification the principle of inheritance still betraying their 

 original birthplace 1 . 



The following is a synopsis of the fauna and flora 

 of this archipelago, so far as at present known. The 

 only terrestrial vertebrates are two peculiar species 

 of land-tortoise, and one extinct species ; five species 

 of lizards, all peculiar two of them so much so 

 as to constitute a peculiar genus; and two species 

 of snakes, both closely allied to South American 

 forms. Of birds there are 57 species, of which no 



1 Origin of Species, pp. 353-4. 



