20 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



do occur on oceanic islands. It is indeed quite 

 possible that our views with regard to the origin of 

 the remainder of the Pacific Islands may change very 

 materially, and once more revert to what Dr. Gould 

 expressed nearly fifty years ago in the following 

 words : " From a consideration of the land-shells on 

 the Pacific Islands, it seems possible to draw some 

 fair inferences as to the relations of the lands which 

 once occupied the area of the Pacific Ocean, and 

 whose mountain peaks evidently now indicate or 

 constitute the islands with which it is now studded." 

 Indeed Dr. von Ihering goes so far as to positively 

 state that in his opinion the Polynesian Islands are 

 not volcanic eruptions of the sea floor, which being 

 without life were successively peopled from Australia 

 and the neighbouring islands, but the remains of 

 a great Pacific continent, which was in early 

 mesozoic times connected with other continental land 

 masses (a, p. 425). 



Before coming to a decision on the part played by 

 flotsam and jetsam in the constitution of an island 

 fauna, those who have studied the problem on the 

 spot should, however, have a voice in the matter. 

 And though, from my experience in northern latitudes, 

 I feel sure that island faunas there are but slightly 

 affected by occasional dispersal of species, Mr. 

 Hedley, who has made the fauna of the Pacific 

 Islands his special study, assures me that drift 

 migration plays an important rdle in that region. 

 I hope we may soon have a more detailed account 



