310 ORIGIN OF LIFE IN AMERICA 



seven hundred feet the scenery changes completely. A fresh 

 and moisture-laden wind greets us from the south-east, the 

 ground is covered with short dense grasses, evergreen, shady 

 little woods are dotted about here and there, and the flora 

 as a whole is quite different from that below. Those ac- 

 quainted with the flora of Ecuador will feel as if transplanted 

 to the woods of the Paramo region, which flourish at a height 

 of about 9,000 feet. The most striking character of the 

 flora is its strong endemism, every one of the larger islands 

 having its peculiar species, which do not range to the 

 others even when the islands are in close proximity to one 

 another. 



From Dr. Wolf's graphic description we can gather valu- 

 able information. In its strongly endemic character the flora 

 of the archipelago agrees perfectly with the fauna. As among 

 the animals so it has been noticed among the plants that the 

 various islands all possess their own species, though the latter 

 are related to one another. But, in answer to our inquiries 

 into the causes of this singular distribution, we are told by 

 Dr. Wolf that he concurs with Darwin in the belief that the 

 islands received their plants, as well as their animals, by acci- 

 dental means of transport. He does not specify these means 

 of transport. Darwin* makes it perfectly clear to us that 

 winds could not have played any part in it. " As the archi- 

 pelago is free to a remarkable degree," he says, "from gales 

 of wind, neither the birds, insects, nor lighter seeds, would 

 be blown from island to island." If the seeds were carried 

 by marine currents from the mainland to the archipelago, 

 how were they afterwards conveyed from the inhospitable 

 shores of the islands across the almost absolute desert of 

 the lowlands to the higher level ? We are unacquainted with 

 any forces except wind, which would carry the seeds to a 

 height of seven hundred feet, but Darwin expressly tells us 

 the islands are remarkably free from wind. Moreover, we 

 should expect the plants found at that height in the Galapagos 

 islands to agree to some extent with the flora of the lowlands 

 of the continent. Few, if any, seeds carried down by rivers 

 would come from the highlands of the Andes. Yet the Gala- 



* Darwin, C., "Journal of Researches," p. 290. 



