206 
Acclimatisation. 
[April, 
reasons manifest why they might not flourish in M^dagas- 
car, in Borneo, or New Guinea, as well as in Guatemala 
B Tsaid above “the introduction of a living species through 
human agency.” I might have added “ intentional or acci- 
dental ” ^It must not be supposed that man has knowing y, 
W set purpose, seledtecf as his companions toeing 
hpino-s which have accompanied him in his wanaei g 
Fa? from it : as proof to the contrary we may mention 
merely the cockroach and the grey rat— Norwegian of ear ei 
writers Hanoverian of Charles Waterloo but mo.e tiuly 
and more significantly Russian ! Man would no more wil- 
fully acclimatise such creatures than he would re s P 
01 IHs^often* thought that acclimatisation is fostered and 
recommended by scientific men. Such is by no means he 
case The genuine zoologist or botanist looks upon 
introduction of alien species into any country with as little 
pleasure as the classical scholar regards the interpolation of 
snurious passages in some ancient authoi. Lven herein 
England doubts have already arisen whether certain plants 
are S truly native or whether they have been artificially intro- 
duced Y That the consequences of the artificial immigia 
of plants and animals may teach us certain grave biologica 
lessons is a partial compensation for the obscurity which 
is occasioning in organic geography I admit But none o 
us would have made the experiment. No savant, no 
entist— why have we no genuine English term foi su 
men J-would have carried goats to St. Helena, rabbits o 
Australia, or “ cabbage whites” to North America, merely 
tn spp what would happen. . . 
We must remember that “ acclimatisation is a vei\ 
serious thing— far too serious to he left to the lndiscretio 
individuals. We are justly warned that even the extirpation 
of existing forms of animal and plant life is a task which 
ousrht not to be undertaken with a light heait and wi 10 
°fl counting the cost. But the risk in introducing some 
alien species is tenfold graver; the step once taken may 
prove as far as man’s present resources are concerned, me- 
vocable, and the consequences cannot in the least he foreseen. 
Of this I shall presently give some examples. 
Perhaps the first lesson to be learnt, scientifically speak- 
ino- from our present experience in acclimatisation is t 
faUacyof one of the dogmas of the Old Natural History. 
u'w[s formerly held ami taught that the plants and the 
animals of any given country were especially, and y 
