398 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
Chap. XII. 
The most striking and important fact for us in regard 
to the inhabitants of islands, is their affinity to those of 
the nearest mainland, without being actually the same 
species. Numerous instances could be given of this 
fact. I will give only one, that of the Galapagos 
Archipelago, situated under the equator, between 500 
and 600 miles from the shores of South America. Here 
almost every product of the land and water bears the 
unmistakeable stamp of the American continent. There 
are twenty-six land-birds, and twenty-five of these are 
ranked by Mr. Gould as distinct species, supposed to 
have been created here ; yet the close affinity of most 
of these birds to American species in every character, 
in their habits, gestures, and tones of voice, was mani¬ 
fest. So it is with the other animals, and with nearly 
all the plants, as shown by Dr. Hooker in his admirable 
memoir on the Flora of this archipelago. The natu¬ 
ralist, looking at the inhabitants of these volcanic 
islands in the Pacific, distant several hundred miles 
from the continent, yet feels that he is standing on 
American land. Why should this be so ? why should 
the species which are supposed to have been created in 
the Galapagos Archipelago, and nowhere else, bear so 
plain a stamp of affinity to those created in America ? 
There is nothing in the conditions of life, in the geo¬ 
logical nature of the islands, in their height or climate, 
or in the proportions in which the several classes are 
associated together, which resembles closely the con¬ 
ditions of the South American coast: in fact there is 
a considerable dissimilarity in all these respects. On 
the other hand, there is a considerable degree of re¬ 
semblance in the volanic nature of the soil, in climate, 
height, and size of the islands, between the Galapagos 
and Cape de Verde Archipelagos: but what an entire 
and absolute difference in their inhabitants! The in¬ 
habitants of the Cape de Verde Islands are related to 
