1 10 EVOL UTION AND NA TURAL THEOL G Y. 



and the main land, has led to the separate 

 creation of distinct species to inhabit the 

 opposite coasts. Thus every island of the 

 little Galapagos Archipelago has had a small 

 Fauna and Flora created expressly for it ; and 

 a special Fauna and Flora, differing considerably 

 from that of the rest of Europe, has been 

 created expressly for the islands of Corsica 

 and Sardinia, while England, being nearer 

 the French Coast, has only received half the 

 French species, and Ireland only two-thirds 

 of the English ; and these islands have scarcely 

 been favoured with any species peculiar to 

 themselves. Who will believe that Infinite 

 Wisdom would have stocked the world in so 

 capricious a manner, if each species had been 

 independently created ? 



If for the sake of variety, why should not 

 every small district in Europe have its peculiar 

 productions, like Corsica, and Sardinia ? Or 

 why should not every island of the great Indo- 

 Australian Archipelago possess a totally distinct 

 Fauna and Flora, whereas it forms only two 

 distinct regions of distribution, divided by a 

 strait but ten miles in width? These questions 

 are unanswerable on any theory involving 



