ORGANIC E VOL UTION. 5 1 



invariably present the same characteristic stamp 

 as the living species now flourishing on the same 

 continents. Thus, in America we find fossils all 

 presenting the characteristically American types 

 of animals, in Australia the characteristically 

 Australian types, and so on. That is to say, 

 on every continent the dead species resemble 

 the living species, as we may expect that they 

 should, if they are all bound together by the 

 ties of hereditary descent ; while, if different 

 continents are compared, the fossil species are as 

 unlike as we have seen the living species to be. 



Turning next to the case of oceanic islands, 

 situated at some distance from a continent. In 

 these cases the plants and animals found on the 

 island, though very often differing from all other 

 plants and animals in the world as regards their 

 specific type, nevertheless in generic type re- 

 semble the plants and animals of the neigh- 

 bouring continent. The inference clearly is, that 



E 2 



