Geographical Distribution. 207 
and the operation of natural selection, as will be 
shown later on; but it is not so easy for special 
creationists to explain why this enormous number 
of peculiar species of beetles should have been 
deposited on Madeira, all allied to beetles on the 
nearest continent, and nearly all deprived of the 
use of their wings. And similarly, of course, with 
all the peculiar species of the Bermudas and the 
Azores. For who will explain, on the theory 
of independent creation, why all the peculiar species, 
both of animals and plants, which occur on the Ber- 
mudas should so unmistakably present American 
affinities, while those which occur on the Azores 
no less unmistakably present European affinities? 
But to proceed to other, and still more remarkable, 
cases. 
The Galapagos Islands——This archipelago is of 
volcanic origin, situated under the equator between 
500 and 600 miles from the West Coast of South 
America. The depth of the ocean around them 
varies from 2,000 to 3,000 fathoms or more. This 
group is of particular interest, from the fact that 
it was the study of its fauna which first sug- 
gested to Darwin's mind the theory of evolution. 
I will, therefore, begin by quoting a short passage 
from his writings upon the zoological relations of 
this particular fauna. 
Here almost evéry product of the land and of the water bears 
the unmistakeable stamp of the American continent. There 
are twenty-six land birds; of these, twenty-one, or perhaps 
twenty-three, are ranked as distinct species, and would com- 
monly be assumed to have been here created; yet the close 
affinity of most of these birds to American species is manifest in 
every character, in their habits, gestures, and tones of voice. 
Q2 
