74 ABSEXCE OF INTERMEDIATE VARIETIES [Chap. X. 



of infinitely numerous gradations, as fine as existing 

 varieties, connecting together nearly all existing and 

 extinct species. But this ought not to be expected ; yet 

 this has been repeatedly advanced as a most serious 

 objection against my views. 



It may.be worth while to sum up the foregoing 

 remarks on the causes of the imperfection of the 

 geological record under an imaginary illustration. The 

 Malay Archipelago is about the size of Europe from the 

 Xorth Cape to the Mediterranean, and from Britain to 

 Bussia ; and therefore equals all the geological forma- 

 tions which have been examined with any accuracy, 

 excepting those of the United States of America. I 

 fully agree with Mr. Godwin-Austen, that the present 

 condition of the Malay Archipelago, with its numerous 

 large islands separated by wide and shallow seas, pro- 

 bably represents the former state of Europe, whilst 

 most of our formations were accumulating. The Malay 

 Archipelago is one of the richest regions in organic 

 beings ; yet if all the species were to be collected which 

 have ever lived there, how imperfectly would they 

 represent the natural history of the world \ 



But we have every reason to believe that the 

 terrestrial productions of the archipelago would be 

 preserved in an extremely imperfect manner in the 

 formations which we suppose to be there accumulating. 

 Not many of the strictly littoral animals, or of those 

 which lived on naked submarine rocks, would be em- 

 bedded ; and those embedded in gravel or sand would 

 not endure to a distant epoch. Wherever sediment did 

 not accumulate on the bed of the sea, or where it did 

 not accumulate at a sufficient rate to protect organic 

 bodies from decay, no remains could be preserved. 



