56 THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCES OF 



attempts at adaptation bring the thesis of the 

 special creationists to a reductio ad absurdum ; 

 so that the only possible explanation before us 

 is, that while the seeds of these plants were 

 able to float to the islands, the quadrupeds were 

 not able to swim. 



Perhaps in sheer desperation, however, the 

 special creationists will try to take refuge in the 

 assumption that oceanic islands differ from con- 

 tinents in not having been the scenes of creative 

 power, and have therefore depended on immi- 

 gration for their inhabitants. But here again 

 there is no standing-room ; for we have already 

 seen that oceanic islands are particularly rich in 

 peculiar species which occur nowhere else in the 

 world ; so that, as a matter of fact, if the special 

 creation theory is true, we must conclude that 

 oceanic islands have been the theatres of extra- 

 ordinary creative activity ; although an exception 

 has always been carefully made to the detriment 



