230 Darwin, and after Darwin. 
species, which are nearly all peculiar, and in some 
cases go to constitute peculiar genera. The same 
remarks apply to the twenty species of land-shells. 
Lastly, of the total number of flowering plants (332 
species) more than one half (174 species) are pecu- 
liar. It is observable in the case of these peculiar 
species of plants—as also of the peculiar species of 
birds—that many of them are restricted to single 
islands. It is also observable that, ‘with regard both 
to the fauna and flora, the Galapagos Islands as a 
whole are very much richer in peculiar species than 
either the Azores or Bermudas, notwithstanding 
that both the latter are considerably more remote 
from their nearest continents. This difference, which 
at first sight appears to make against the evolu- 
tionary interpretation, really tends to confirm it. 
For the Galapagos Islands are situated in a calm 
region of the globe, unvisited by those periodic 
storms and hurricanes which sweep over the North 
Atlantic, and which every year convey some strag- 
gling birds, insects, seeds, &c., to the Azores and 
Bermudas. Notwithstanding their somewhat greater 
isolation geographically, therefore, the Azores and 
Bermudas are really less isolated biologically than 
are the Galapagos Islands ; and hence the less degree 
of peculiarity on the part of their endemic species. 
But, on the theory of special creation, it is impos- 
sible to understand why there should be any such 
correlation between the prevalence of gales and a 
comparative inertness of creative activity. And, as 
we have seen, it is equally impossible on this theory 
to understand why there should be a further corre- 
lation between the degree of peculiarity on the part 
