10 



mt MALAY AlWMIFELAGO. 



[COAP. I. 



Contrasts in Natural Productio7is,—^o undevstaiid the 

 importance of this class of fiict^?, and its bearing upon' 

 the former distribution of laud and sea, it is necessary to 

 consider tbe results arri%'ed at by geologists and naturalists 

 in other parts of the workh 



It is now generally admitted tliat tbe present distribu- 

 tion of Hviug things on the surface of the earth is mfinly 

 the result of the last series of (changes that it ha^ uiider- 

 gone, GeolojTjr teaches ns tliat the surface of the himi 

 and the distribution of land and watei- is ever}Tvbere 

 slowly changing. It further teaches us that the forms 

 of liie which inhabit that surface have, during every 

 period of which we possess any record, been also slowly 

 changing. 



It is not now necessary to say anything about hmu 

 either of those changes took place ; as to tijat, opinions 

 may difier ; but as to the fact that the changes themselves 

 havG occun"edj from the earliest geological ages doMTi to 

 the present day, and are still going on, there is no dif- 

 ference of opinion. Every successive sti-atum of sedi- 

 mentary rock, sand, or gmvel, is a proof that changes of 

 level have taken place ; and the different species of animals 

 and plants, whose remains are found in these deposits, 

 prove tliat corresponding clianges did occur in the organic 

 world 



Taking, therefore, these two series of changes for gi'trntcd, 

 niost of the present peculiarities and anomalies in tlte 

 distribution of species maybe directly traced to them. In 

 our own islands, wdth a very few trifling exceptions, e\'ei'y 

 quadruped, bird, reptile, insect, and plant, is found also 

 on the adjacent continent. In the small islands of Sar- 

 dinia and Corsica, thei-e arc some quadrupeds and insects, 

 and many plants, quite peculiar. In Ceylon, more closely 

 connected to India than Britain is to Europe, numy 

 animals and plants are different from those found in India, 

 and peculiar to tlie island. In the Galapagos Ishmds, 

 almctst every indigenous living thing is peculiar to them, 

 though closely resembling other kinds found in the nearest 

 parts of the American continent 



Most naturalists now arhnit that these facts can only 

 be explained by the greater or less lapse of time since 



