208 THE DARWINIAN THEORY 



The Galapagos Islands, five or six hundred miles 

 west of America, on the equator, are all volcanic, and 

 therefore presumably recent in a geological sense. 

 Nearly all the animals found here are peculiar to 

 the islands, and different islands have their own 

 fauna ; yet these are more nearly akin to those of 

 South America than to any other forms. In 1835, 

 Darwin visited these islands, and set himself to 

 discover the reason of this. Writing in 1837, after 

 his return, he notes : " In July opened first note-book 

 on Transmutation of Species. Had been greatly 

 struck from about the month of previous March on 

 character of South American fossils, and species on 

 Galapagos archipelago. These facts (especially 

 latter) origin of all my views." 



From 1836 to 1842, the first six years after his 

 return from the Beagle voyage, much time was 

 spent at first in unpacking specimens and distri- 

 buting the collections among specialists. The geo- 

 logical specimens he reserved for his own share. 

 The publication of detailed results occupied much 

 time, and in 1839 the "Naturalists' Voyage" was 

 published, the second edition appearing in 1845 as 

 the " Narration of the Voyage of the Beagle." The 

 third edition in its present form appeared in i860. 



The geology of the voyage was written by Darwin 

 himself, and consisted of three parts, the best known 

 of which dealt with the structure and distribution of 

 coral reefs. " No other work of mine," he says, 

 "was begun in so deductive a spirit as this, for the 

 whole theory was thought out on the west coast of 

 South America, before I had seen a true coral reef." 



