390 DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. [chap, xvii: 



procured in the archipelago ; and of the numerous specimens 

 of these two sub-groups shot by four collectors at James 

 Island, all were found to belong to one species of each ; 

 whereas the numerous specimens shot either on Chatham 

 or Charles Island (for the two sets were mingled together) 

 all belonged to the two other species ; hence we may feel 

 almost sure that these islands possess their representative 

 species of these two sub-groups. In land-shells this law 

 of distribution does not appear to hold good. In my very 

 small collection of insects, Mr. Waterhouse remarks, that 

 of those which were ticketed with their locality, not one 

 was common to any two of the islands. 



If we now turn to the Flora, we shall find the aboriginal 

 plants of the different islands wonderfully different. I give 

 all the following results on the high authority of my friend 

 Dr. J. Hooker. I may premise that I indiscriminately 

 collected everything in flower on the different islands, and 

 fortunately kept my collections separate. Too much 

 confidence, however, must not be placed in the proportional 

 results, as the small collections brought home by some 

 other naturalists, though in some respects confirming the 

 results, plainly show that much remains to be done in the 

 botany of this group ; the LeguminoscB^ moreover, have as 

 yet been only approximately worked out : 



Hence we have the truly wonderful fact, that in James 

 Island, of the thirty-eight Galapageian plants, or those 

 found in no other part of the world, thirty are exclusively 



