74 COLIN CLOUT'S CALENDAR. 



the Lizard, and some half-dozen other similar places. 

 It would be easy enough to make a long list of such 

 southern plants which still linger on in a few scattered 

 spots of Devonshire, Cornwall, and Kerry relics of the 

 old flora of the submerged land between France, Spain, 

 and Ireland ; but perhaps a yet more interesting fact 

 about Lundy is the fact that it has in all probability 

 actually developed two new animals of its own. 



Of course, the animals are not very large or very- 

 ferocious ; if they were there would not be much room 

 for them on Lundy. But an animal is an animal, what- 

 ever its size may be, arid the mere appearance of two 

 separate animals on the rocky boss of Lundy, and no- 

 where else in the world, is certainly in itself a sufficiently 

 surprising instance of local evolution. They are, in fact, 

 nothing more than two small beetles. It is, of course, 

 possible that these beetles may belong to the old fauna 

 of the Bristol Channel, just as some of the plants almost 

 certainly do, being found elsewhere on the Continent at 

 the present day. But, on the other hand, it is far more 

 probable, I think, that they are true natives of Lundy, 

 sons of the soil developed on the spot ; for it is well 

 known that species are particularly apt to vary on 

 islands, and the more so the smaller their area and the 

 more peculiar their climate. The intervening sea prevents 

 free reinforcement of the original breed from the main- 

 land ; and so new varieties adapted to the special 

 circumstances soon establish themselves, and before long 

 grow into distinct species. Even in so large an island 

 as Great Britain itself, but recently separated from the 

 Continent, we have already one peculiar native bird the 

 Scotch grouse, which, as everybody knows, is not found 

 anywhere else in the world ; while we have several 

 native butterflies, as well as dozens and dozens of in- 



