Island Life; Or, The Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas and Floras. Alfred Russel Wallace

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Island Life; Or, The Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas and Floras - Alfred Russel Wallace


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Limitations of Geological Time—Time Amply Sufficient both for Geological and Biological Development—Insular Faunas and Floras—The North Atlantic Islands—The Galapagos—St. Helena and the Sandwich Islands—Great Britain as a Recent Continental Island—Borneo and Java—Japan and Formosa—Madagascar as an Ancient Continental Island—Celebes and New Zealand as Anomalous Islands—The Flora of New Zealand and its Origin—The European Element in the South Temperate Floras—Concluding Remarks

      Pages 531-545

       Table of Contents

PAGE
1. Map showing the Distribution of the true Jays Frontispiece.
2. Map showing the Zoological Regions To face 31
3. Map showing the Distribution of Parus Palustris To face 66
4. A Glacier with Moraines (From Sir C. Lyell's Principles of Geology) 109
5. Map of the Ancient Rhone Glacier (From Sir C. Lyell's Antiquity of Man) 110
6. Diagram showing the effects of Excentricity and Precession on Climate 127
7. Diagram of Excentricity and Precession 129
8. Map showing the Extent of the North and South Polar Ice 138
9. Diagram showing Changes of Excentricity during Three Million Years 171
10. Outline Map of the Azores 248
11. Map of Bermuda and the American Coast 263
12. Section of Bermuda and adjacent Sea-bottom 264
13. Map of the Galapagos and adjacent Coasts of South America 276
14. Map of the Galapagos 277
15. Map of the South Atlantic, showing position of St. Helena 293
16. Map of the Sandwich Islands 311
17. Map of the North Pacific, with its submerged Banks 312
18. Map showing the Bank connecting Britain with the Continent 333
19. Map of Borneo and Java, showing the Great Submarine Bank of South-Eastern Asia 373
20. Map of Japan and Formosa 392
21. Physical Sketch Map of Madagascar (From Nature) 413
22. Map of Madagascar Group, showing Depths of Sea 415
23. Map of the Indian Ocean 424
24. Map of Celebes and the surrounding Islands 451
25. Map showing Depths of Sea around Australia and New Zealand 471
26. Map showing the probable condition of Australia during the Cretaceous Epoch 496

       Table of Contents

       Table of Contents

       Table of Contents

       Table of Contents

       Table of Contents

      INTRODUCTORY

      Remarkable Contrasts in distribution of Animals—Britain and Japan—Australia and New Zealand—Bali and Lombok—Florida and Bahama Islands—Brazil and Africa—Borneo, Madagascar, and Celebes—Problems in distribution to be found in every country—Can be solved only by the combination of many distinct lines of inquiry, biological and physical—Islands offer the best subjects for the study of distribution—Outline of the subjects to be discussed in the present volume.

      When an Englishman travels by the nearest sea-route from Great Britain to Northern Japan he passes by countries very unlike his own, both in aspect and natural productions. The sunny isles of the Mediterranean, the sands and date-palms of Egypt, the arid rocks of Aden, the cocoa groves of Ceylon, the tiger-haunted jungles of Malacca and Singapore, the fertile plains and volcanic peaks of Luzon, the forest-clad mountains of Formosa, and the bare hills of China, pass successively in review; till after a circuitous voyage of thirteen thousand miles he finds himself at Hakodadi in Japan. He is now separated from his starting-point by the whole width of Europe and Northern Asia, by an almost endless succession of plains and mountains, arid deserts or icy plateaux,


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