37(5 GALAPAGOS APiCHIPELAGO. [CHAI-. xvir. 



live species; for there is a Galapageian species of Monoceros, a 

 genus only found on the west coast of America; and there are 

 Galapageian species of Fissurella and Cancellaria, genera common 

 on the west coast, but not found (as I am informed by Mr. Curning) 

 in the central islands of the Pacific. On the other hand, there are 

 Galapageian species of Oniscia and Stylifer, genera common to the 

 West Indies and to the Chinese and Indian seas, but not found 

 either on the west coast of America or in the central Pacific. I 

 may here add, that after the comparison by Messrs. Curning and 

 Hinds of about 2000 shells from the eastern and western coasts of 

 America, only one single shell was found in common, namely, the 

 Purpura patula, which inhabits the West Indies, the coast of 

 Panama, and the Galapagos. We have, therefore, in this quarter 

 of the world, three great conchological sea-provinces, quite distinct, 

 though surprisingly near each other, being separated by long north 

 and south spaces either of land or of open sea. 



I took great pains in collecting the insects, but, excepting Tierra 

 del Fuego, I never saw in this respect so poor a country. Even in 

 the upper and damp region I procured very few, excepting some 

 minute Diptera and Hymenoptera, mostly of common mundane 

 forms. As before remarked, the insects, for a tropical region, are 

 of very small size and dull colours. Of beetles I collected twenty- 

 five species (excltiding a Dermestes and Corynetes imported, where- 

 over a ship touches); of these, two belong to the Harpalidee, two 

 to the Hydrophilida3, nine to three families of the Heteromera, and 

 the remaining twelve to as many different families. This circum- 

 stance of insects (and I may add plants), where few in number, 

 belonging to many different families, is, I believe very general. 

 Mr. Waterhouse, who has published * an account of the insects 

 of this archipelago, and to whom I am indebted for the above 

 details, informs me that there are several new genera ; and that 

 of the genera not new, one or two are American, and the rest 

 of mundane distribution. With the exception of a wood-feeding 

 Apate, and of one or probably two water-beetles from the American 

 continent, all the species appear to be new. 



The botany of this group is fully as interesting as the zoology. 



Dr. J. Hooker will soon publish in the " Linnean Transactions " 



a full account of the Flora, and I am much indebted to him for the 



following details. Of flowering plants there are, as far as at present 



* Ann. anrl Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. xvi. p. 19. 



