372 



ISLAND LIFE 



PAUT II 



groups which have become extinct elsewhere ; and it is 

 therefore in the highest degree probable that some species 

 which have ceased to exist on the European continent 

 should be preserved in some part or other of our islands, 

 especially as these present favourable climatic conditions 

 such as do not exist on the adjacent continent. 



There is therefore a considerable amount of harmony 

 in the various facts adduced in this chapter, as well as 

 a complete accordance v/ith what the laws of distribution 

 in islands would lead us to expect. In proportion to the 

 species of birds and fresh-water fishes, the number of 

 insect-forms is enormously great, so that the numerous 

 species or varieties here recorded as not yet known on the 

 continent are not to be wondered at ; while it would, I 

 think, be almost an anomaly if, with peculiar birds and 

 fishes there were not a fair proportion of peculiar insects. 

 Our entomologists should, therefore, give up the assump- 

 tion, that all our insects do exist on the continent, and 

 will some time or other be found there, as not in accordance 

 either with the evidence or the probabilities of the case ; 

 and when this is done, and the interesting peculiarities of 

 some of our smaller islands are remembered, the study of 

 our native animals and plants, in relation to those of other 

 countries, will acquire a new interest. The British Isles 

 are said to consist of more than a thousand islands and 

 islets. How many of these have ever been searched for 

 insects ? With the case of Lundy Island before us, who 

 shall say that there is not yet scope for extensive and 

 interesting investigations into the British fauna and 

 flora ? 



