xxi] THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 355 



having also read through such books as Bonaparte's " Con- 

 spectus," already referred to, and several catalogues of insects 

 and reptiles in the British Museum (which I almost knew by 

 heart), giving a mass of facts as to the distribution of animals 

 over the whole world, it occurred to me that these facts had 

 never been properly utilized as indications of the way in 

 which species had come into existence. The great work of 

 Lyell had furnished me wit h the main featured Of Llie suties - 

 siotTot species in time , and bv combining the two I thought 

 tnat some valuable conclusions might be reached. I accord- 

 ingly put my facts and ideas on paper, and the result seeming 

 to me to be of some importance, I sent it to The Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History, in which it appeared in the 

 following September (1855). Its title was "On the Law 

 which has regulated the Introduction of New Species," which 

 law was briefly stated (at the end) as follows : " Every species 

 Jtas come into existence coincident both in space and t ime with a 

 j>re-existing closely-allied species ? This clearly pointed! to some 

 kind of evolution. It suggested the wJien and the wliere of 

 its cccurrence, and that it could only be through natural 

 generation, as was also suggested in the " Vestiges " ; but the 

 how was still a secret only to be penetrated some years later. 

 Soon after this article appeared, Mr. Stevens wrote me 

 that he had heard several naturalists express regret that I 

 was " theorizing," when what we had to do was to collect 

 more facts. After this, I had in a letter to Darwin expressed 

 surprise that no notice appeared to have been taken of my 

 paper, to which he replied that both Sir Charles Lyell and 

 Mr. Edward Blyth, two very good men, specially called his 

 attention to it. I was, however, rewarded later, when in 

 Huxley's chapter, " On the Reception of the Origin of 

 Species," contributed to the " Life and Letters," he referred 

 to this paper as — " his powerful essay," adding — ■ On reading 

 it afresh I have been astonished to recollect how small was 

 the impression it made" (vol ii. p. 185). The article is 

 reprinted in my " Natural Selection and Tropical Nature." 



