540 



ISLAND LIFE 



PART II 



on to the Galapagos we have a group less distant from a con- 

 tinent and of larger area, yet, owing to special conditions, of 

 which the comparatively stormless equatorial atmosphere is 

 the most important, exhibiting far more speciality in its pro- 

 ductions than the more distant Azores. Still, however, its 

 fauna and flora are as unmistakably derived from the 

 American continent as those of the Azores are from the 

 European. 



We next take St. Helena and the Sandwich Islands, both 

 wonderfully isolated in the midst of vast oceans, and no 

 longer exhibiting in their productions an exclusive affinity 

 to one continent. Here we have to recognise the results 

 of immense antiquity, and of those changes of geography, 

 of climate, and in the general distribution of organisms 

 which we know have occurred in former geological epochs, 

 and whose causes and consequences we have discussed in 

 the first part of our volume. This concludes our review of 

 the Oceanic Islands. 



Coming now to Continental Islands we consider first 

 those of most recent origin and offering the simplest phe- 

 nomena ; and begin with the British Isles as affording the 

 best example of very recent and well known Continental 

 Islands. Reviewing the interesting past history of Britain, 

 we show why it is comparatively poor in species and why 

 this poverty is still greater in Ireland. By a careful 

 examination of its fauna and flora it is then shown that the 

 British Isles are not so completely identical, biologically, 

 with the continent as has been supposed. A considerable 

 amount of speciality is shown to exist, and that this 

 speciality is real and not apparent is supported by the fact, 

 that small outlying islands, such as the Isle of Man, the 

 Shetland Isles, Lundy Island, and the Isle of Wight, all 

 possess certain species or varieties not found elsewhere. 



Borneo and Java are next taken, as illustrations of tropi- 

 cal islands which may be not more ancient than Britain, 

 but which, owing to their much larger area, greater distance 

 from the continent, and the extreme richness of the 

 equatorial fauna and flora, possess a large proportion of 

 peculiar species, though these are in general very closely 

 allied to those of the adjacent parts of Asia. The prelimi- 



