GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF CRUSTACEA. 1587 



occasion of the identity of genera, and of the very close likeness in 

 certain species (so close that an identity is sometimes strongly sus- 

 pected where not admitted), we must conclude that there is a possi- 

 bility of actual identity of species, through original creation. This, 

 in fact, becomes the only admissible view, and the actually identical 

 species between Japan and the Mediterranean are examples. 



XL When we find a like resemblance of genera and species between 

 Temperate zone provinces in opposite hemispheres that are almost 

 exact antipodes, as in the case of Great Britain aud New Zealand, we 

 have no choice of hypotheses left. We must appeal directly to crea- 

 tive agency for the peopling of the New Zealand seas as well as the 

 British, and see in both, like wisdom, and a like adaptedness of life to 

 physical nature. The Palaemon affinis of the New Zealand seas is 

 hardly distinguishable from the common P. squilla of Europe, and is 

 one example of this resemblance. It may not be an identity ; and on 

 this account it is a still better proof of our principle, because there is 

 no occasion to suspect migration or any other kind of transfer. It is 

 a creation of species in these distant provinces, which are almost iden- 

 tical, owing to the physical resemblances of the seas ; and it shows at 

 least, that a very close approximation to identity may be consistent 

 with Divine Wisdom. 



The resemblance of the New Zealand and British seas has been 

 remarked upon as extending also to the occurrence in both of the 

 genera Portunus and Cancer. It is certainly a wonderful fact that 

 New Zealand should have a closer resemblance in its Crustacea to 

 Great Britain, its antipode, than to any other part of the world — a 

 resemblance running parallel, as we cannot fail to observe, with its 

 geographical form, its insular position, and its situation among the 

 temperate regions of the ocean. Under such circumstances, there 

 must be many other more intimate resemblances, among which we 

 may yet distinguish the special cause which led to the planting of 

 peculiar British forms in this antipodal land. 



The close resemblance in species and genera from Britain and New 

 Zealand, and from Japan and the Mediterranean, and the actual iden- 

 tity in some species among the latter, proves therefore that, as regards 

 the species of two distant regions, identity as well as resemblance may 

 be attributable to independent creations, these resemblances being in 

 direct accordance with the physical resemblances of the regions. As 

 this conclusion cannot be avoided, we are compelled in all cases to try 



