CHAP, XII 



THE AZORES 



261 



there will still remain a wonderfully rich and varied flora 

 to have been carried, by the various natural means above 

 indicated, over 900 miles of ocean, more especially as the 

 large proportion of species identical with those of Europe 

 shows that their introduction has been comparatively recent, 

 and that it is, probably (as in the case of the birds) still 

 going on. We may therefore feel sure that we have here 

 by no means reached the limit of distance to which plants 

 can be conveyed by natural means across the ocean ; and 

 this conclusion will be of great value to us in investigating 

 other cases where the evidence at our command is less com- 

 plete, and the indications of origin more obscure or conflicting. 



Of the thirty-eight species^ which are considered to be 

 peculiar to the islands, all are allied to European plants 

 except SIX, whose nearest affinities are in the Canaries or 

 Madeira. The most distinct of all the Azorean plants is 

 the Campanula vidalii, which is a shrubby species, with 

 rosettes of leathery leaves at the ends of the branches, and 

 rather large white flowers with an orange ring on the disc. 

 Mr. Godman compares its general appearance with that of 

 a shrubby Sempervivum. With these exceptions, most 

 of the peculiar Azorean species are closely allied to 

 European plants, and are in several cases little more than 

 varieties of them. While therefore we may believe that 

 the larger part of the existing flora reached the islands 

 since the glacial epoch, a portion of it may be more ancient, 

 as there is no doubt that a majority of the species could 

 withstand some lowering of temperature ; while in such a 

 warm latitude and surrounded with sea, there would always 

 be many sunny and sheltered spots in which even tender 

 plants might flourish. 



Im'portant Deduction from the Peculiarities of the Azor- 

 ean Fauna and Flora. — There is one conclusion to be 

 drawn from the almost wholly European character of the 

 Azorean fauna and flora which deserves special attention, 

 namely, that the peopling of remote islands is not due 

 so much to ordinary or normal, as to extraordinary and 

 exceptional causes. These islands lie in the course of the 



^ Mr. Watson considered the peculiar species to be forty, but tliey have 

 been reduced to thirty-eight by Dr. Trelease in his recent work on The 

 Botany of the Azores. 



