304 
NATURE 
| Fed. 16, 1871 

Oceanic islands, as defined by Mr, Darwin, are those 
smaller islands or groups which are more than 300 miles 
from the nearest continent, from which they are separated 
by deep sea. Their distinguishing character is, that they 
possess neither terrestrial mammals nor batrachians, and 
rarely any reptiles, and that a large proportion of their 
animal and vegetable inhabitants are quite peculiar to 
them, although allied to those of the nearest continent. 
Mr. Darwin was the first to maintain that all such islands 
had derived their organic productions by migrations from 
the adjacent land, rather than by union with it; and the 
facts and arguments he has adduced have convinced 
most naturalists of the justness of this view. It is power- 
fully supported by the fact that a connection can in almost 
every case be traced between the adaptability for migra- 
tion of a group of animals or plants, and the amount of 
distinctness of the island species of that group from their 
allies elsewhere. Thus the land-shells of Madeira are 
the most peculiar of all its productions, the beetles and 
the plants less so, while the birds (some of which still 
come over annually from the continent) are almost all of 
European species. 
The Azores, being about a thousand miles from the 
nearest coast of Europe, and being separated from it by 
a profoundly deep ocean, are pre-eminently oceanic islands, 
and an especial interest therefore attaches to their natural 
history. The facts, however, are different from what 
would have been expected, since some of the most 
striking peculiarities of such islands are far less mani- 
fested here than in others much nearer to the main- 
land ; yet on that very account they offer a most con- 
vincing illustration of the truth of Mr. Darwin’s view, 
since the cause of their deviation can be detected. 
Although so much farther from the mainland than the 
Galapagos or the Madeiras, they possess a far smaller 
proportion of endemic forms, either of animals or plants; 
about eighty or ninety per cent. being European species, 
except in the case of the land shells, where only forty per 
cent. are European. The explanation of this anomaly is 
to be found in the fact that the islands are situated in an 
exceptionally stormy region, gales of wind from every 
point of the compass being very frequent. As a result, 
strange land birds of many species appear after these 
storms ; and we cannot doubt that winged insects and the 
seeds of plants also arrive, although these pass unnoticed. 
Thus, although these islands may have been isolated quite 
as long as the Madeiras, their productions being con- 
tinually crossed by fresh arrivals from the Continent, have 
not been able to become as much modified by local in- 
fluences. It is a most interesting fact that the Galapagos, 
whose productions are so highly peculiar, are situated in 
an exceptionally calm region. No emigrant land birds 
are known to visit them, and the result is, that the few 
wanderers who, by some strange accident reached their 
shores in the distant past (when circumstances may have 
been more conducive to such emigration), have been 
isolated ever since, and have thus had time to become 
modified into very distinct species. 
Mr. Godman’s volume consists of a brief account of 
his journey, of carefully compiled lists, with critical re- 
marks on all the chief groups of terrestrial animals and 
plants, and of a well-written summary of results. He 
has obtained the assistance of Mr. Crotch for the beetles, 

of Mr. Tristram for the land shells, of Mr. H. C. Watson, 
who has given a most elaborate critical review of all that 
is known of the flowering plants and ‘ferns, and of Mr. 
W. Mitten for the mosses and hepaticze. There are two 
useful maps of the islands, and the relations of the 
several species to those of the Atlantic Islands, Europe, 
and America, are fully pointed out. In conclusion we 
may notice that there is a full index, that the type and 
arrangement are very clear, and that the book is issued 
with cut edges ; and we may congratulate the author on 
having given us more useful matter in a small compass 
and ina convenient form, than is often to be found in 
works of much higher pretensions and at ten times the 
cost. W. 

OUR BOOK SHELF 
Hardwicke’s Science-Gossif. An Illustrated Medium of 
Interchange and Gossip for Students and Lovers of 
Nature. Edited by M. C. Cooke, M.A. (London: 
Hardwicke, 1871.) 
Tuls is the sixth volume of a magazine which may be 
said to fill in scientific literature very much the posi- 
tion which Votes and Queries takes in the literary 
world. The two resemble each other, indeed, in many 
particulars, and in none more than in the very unequal 
value which attaches to the articles contained in their 
pages. There can be no doubt that Sczence-Gossip 
has fulfilled its object in becoming “a medium of inter- 
change and gossip ;’ the large number of writers who 
discuss a yet larger number of subjects in its columns give 
evidence of this. 
As an example of the best of the papers in the present 
volume, we would refer to one entitled “ The Towing- 
net,” by Major Holland, which appeared in the September 
number, which is pleasantly written, well illustrated, and 
thoroughly correct in its details—although somewhat 
marred by an unfortunate mislettering of the engravings. 
It is evidently written from personal and practical expe- 
rience, and is just the paper to awaken a taste for marine 
studies in any one who has time and opportunity to devote 
tothem. Mr. Taylor’s geological papers demand a word 
of praise; and a long account of a “‘formicary” in the 
November number will be read with interest. Mr. Harting 
and Mr. Robert Holland contribute respectively useful 
ornithological and botanical articles ; and microscopy is 
well represented. In some of the papers, however, 
“gossip” appears to take precedence of “science,” and 
thus we find a lady correspondent expressing her wonder 
“whether flowers suffer pain,” and writing a paper of 
nearly two columnson “errors of the press ;’ which may 
be amusing, but certainly cannot by any effort of the 
imagination be called scientific. On the whole, however, 
the volume is a satisfactory one, the illustrations being 
especially well executed ; and we have no doubt that it 
exercises a beneficial influence upon amateur naturalists. 
We should be glad to see the rule which obtains in WVoées 
and Queries—that correspondents replying to queries 
should refer to volume and page where such questions are 
to be found—enforced by the editor of Scéence-Gossip ; 
the convenience of reference to a correspondence on any 
particular subject would thus be much augmented, 
Etudes faites dans la collection de VEcole des Mines 
sur des Fossiles noveaux ou mal connus. Premier 
fascicule. Mollusgues Tertiaires. Par F, Bayan, &c. 
4to., pp. 81, 10 plates. (Paris: F. Savy, 1870. 
London: Williams and Norgate.) 
M. BAYAN, who occupies the office of Engineer of Bridges 
and Roads in connection with the Ecole des Mines, pre- 
sents us in the work before us with descriptions of 47 
genera and 106 species, illustrated by 139 well-executed 

