PROOFS OF EVOLUTION . 
41 
There are many factors which give rise to 
diversity of organism as influenced by geographi¬ 
cal location, such as temperature, the effect of 
mountain barriers, and glacial action which in¬ 
duced migration. This subject is so broad and 
deep that we have only time to mention the 
remarkable fact concerning the fauna and flora 
of Australia. Its entire range of animal and 
plant-life, with trifling exceptions, is found no¬ 
where else on the globe. Among the great land- 
areas of the earth, it presents a striking case of 
retarded evolution, shown alike in species, genera, 
families and orders. It is a country of synthetic 
types. We still have there the egg-laying 
mammals, and the pouched marsupials, of which 
there are many species; but of true mammals, 
there are none. Australia and a few other oceanic 
islands—notably the Galapagos and Madagascar 
— seem to be but rudimentary parts of the great 
body of the globe. Here the tide of Evolution has 
been checked. Even the natives are among the 
lowest in the scale of human beings. 
What is the significance of all these facts? 
Why should Australia be some ages behind its 
rivals of like climate and soil? It is still in the 
