Geographical Distribution. 27 
these three oceanic territories, a are peculiar, with 
the exception of a single land-bird which is found in 
the Galapagos Islands. This is the rice-bird, so very 
abundant on the American continent that its repre- 
sentatives must not unfrequently become the invo- 
luntary colonists of the Archipelago. There are, 
however, a few species of non-peculiar insects in- 
habiting the Sandwich and Galapagos Islands, the 
exact number of which is doubtful, and on this 
account are not here quoted. But at most they 
would be represented by units, and therefore do not 
affect the general result. Lastly, the remarkable 
fact will be noted, that there is no single represen- 
tative of the mammalian class in any of these islands. 
If we turn next to consider the case of plants, we 
obtain the following result :— 
Peculiar Non-pecultar 
Species. Spectes. 
Sandwich . . . . ~ a B07 243 
Galapagos $e A ee 174 158 
St. Helena . . or - . 50 26 
Totals eo tk sg 3 GOT 427 
So that by adding together peculiar species both 
of land-animals and plants, we find that on these 
three limited areas alone there are 1258 forms of life 
which occur nowhere else upon the globe—not to 
speak of the peculiar aquatic species, nor of the 
presumably large number of peculiar species of all 
kinds not hitherto discovered in these imperfectly 
explored regions. 
Now let us compare these facts with those which 
are presented by the faunas and floras of islands less 
