224 Darwin, and after Darwin, 
would be too extensive to be dealt with on the pre- 
sent occasion, were we to attempt an exhaustive ana- 
lysis of the floras and faunas of all oceanic islands 
upon the face of the globe. Therefore, what I pro- 
pose to do is to select for such exhaustive analysis a 
few 6f what may be termed the most oceanic of 
oceanic islands—that is to say, those oceanic islands 
which are most widely separated from mainlands, 
and which, therefore, furnish the most unquestionable 
of test cases as between the theories of special crea- 
tion and genetic descent. 
Azores.—A group of volcanic islands, nine in num- 
ber, about goo miles from the coast of Portugal, 
and surrounded by ocean depths of 1,800 to 2,500 
fathoms. There is geological evidence that the origin 
of the group dates back at least as far as Miocene 
times. There is a total absence of all terrestrial Ver- 
tebrata, other than those which are known to have been 
introduced byman. Flying animals, on the other hand, 
are abundant ; namely, 53 species of birds, one species 
of bat afew species of butterflies, moths, and hymenop- 
tera, with 74 species of indigenous beetles. All these 
animals are unmodificd European species, with the 
exception of one bird and many of the beetles. Of 
the 74 indigenous species of the latter, 36 are not 
found in Europe; but 19 are natives of Madeira or 
the Canaries, and 3 are American, doubtless trans- 
planted by drift-wood. The remaining 14 specics 
occur nowhere else in the world, though for the most 
part they are allied to other European species. There 
are 69 known species of land-shells, of which 37 are 
European, and 32 peculiar, though all allied to Euro- 
