e52 GEOGRAPHICAL AND LOCAL 



to its climate and circumstances, I will not deny, 

 but I would only ask, is it consistent with 

 what occurred at the Deluge ? Surely the task 

 of Noah would have been much less difficult and 

 laborious, had it been merely necessary for him 

 to construct a vessel fitted for the reception of 

 himself and family, and of food for their suste- 

 nance during their confinement ; and a new race 

 of animals had been created, adapted to the then 

 state of the earth and mankind. But such was 

 not the will of God, and, doubtless, for wise rea- 

 sons. He would neither create a new race of men, 

 nor a new race of animals, when the world might 

 be repeopled by those already in being. This 

 would not have harmonized with the ordinary 

 proceedings of his providence. Whoever exa- 

 mines the animals of North America, will find a 

 vast number that correspond with European spe- 

 cies, distinguished only by characters that mark 

 varieties. On the Rocky Mountains, and in the 

 country westward of that range, Asiatic types are 

 discoverable, both in the vegetable and animal 

 kingdoms. 1 Several animals, likewise, of the 

 southern part of that Continent belong to old 

 world genera, and also species. I have received 

 from Val Paraiso a beetle, common in Britain, 2 

 and Molina mentions several other European ge- 

 nera, as natives of Chili ; so that part of the animal 



1 See Appendix, note 14. 3 Sphodrus Terricola. 



