EDWARD FORBES. 209 



similar but specifically distinct types of animals and 

 plants had been created in all regions in which the 

 conditions of life were the same. Of the fact of the 

 existence of these * representative ' groups of species, or 

 of representative species, no doubt can be entertained; 

 but modern naturalists would explain their origin other- 

 wise. At the present day it would not be admitted that 

 two representative species had been specially created in 

 two areas where similar conditions prevailed. On the 

 contrary, the modern view would be, that two repre- 

 sentative species owe their likeness to the fact that they are 

 the descendants of a common ancestor ; and that their 

 unKkeness is due to the fact that, having become widely 

 separated by migration, and kept separate by the forma- 

 tion of some natural barrier, they have gradually become 

 modified by variation, till we now speak of them as 

 distinct species. 



Some of the most interesting points connected with 

 Forbes's researches into the distribution of animal life 

 relate to the distribution of animals in the sea. Many of 

 these researches were carried on in his dredging excursions 

 round the British coasts ; but his visit to the Mediter- 

 ranean enabled him to carry out a series of elaborate 

 investigations on a more extended scale, and at greater 

 depths than he had previously explored. These investiga- 

 tions were published by Forbes in his well-known 

 'Report on the Mollusca and Radiata of the ^Egean 

 Sea,' which he laid before the meeting of the British 

 Association at Cork, in 1843. As regards British seas, 

 and more or less markedly round all coast-lines in 

 all regions, Forbes recognised four very well defined 



