264 



ISLAND LIFE. 



[part II. 



no reason to doubt tliat besides the species tliat have actually 

 established themselves, many others must have reached the 

 islands, but were not suited to the climate and other physical 

 conditions, or did not find the insects necessary to their 

 fertilisation. 



If now we consider the extreme remoteness and isolation of 

 these islands, their small area, and comparatively recent origin, 

 and that, notwithstanding all these disadvantages, they have 

 acquired a very considerable and varied flora and fauna, we shall, 

 I think, be convinced, that with a larger area and greater 

 antiquity, mere separation from a continent by many hundred 

 miles of sea would not prevent a country from acquiring a very 

 luxuriant and varied flora, and a fauna also rich and peculiar as 

 regards all classes except terrestrial mammals, amphibia, and 

 some groups of reptiles. This conclusion will be of great im- 

 portance in many cases, where the evidence as to the exact 

 origin of the fauna and flora of an island is less clear and satis- 

 factory than in the case of the Azores and Bermuda. 



