[Gutenberg 32021] • Island Life; Or, The Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas and Floras

Island Life

Island Life, by Alfred Russel Wallace

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Title: Island Life Or the Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas and Floras

Author: Alfred Russel Wallace

Release Date: April 17, 2010 [EBook #32021]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISLAND LIFE***

Produced by StevenGibbs, Keith Edkins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at

Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text.

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FRONTISPIECE

[Illustration]

ISLAND LIFE

OR

THE PHENOMENA AND CAUSES OF

INSULAR FAUNAS AND FLORAS

INCLUDING A REVISION AND ATTEMPTED SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF

GEOLOGICAL CLIMATES

BY

ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE

AUTHOR OF "THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO," "THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS," "DARWINISM," ETC.

SECOND AND REVISED EDITION

London

MACMILLAN AND CO.

AND NEW YORK

1895

The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved

* * *

RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY.

First Edition printed 1880 (Med. 8vo). Second Edition 1892 (Extra cr. 8vo). Reprinted 1895.

* * *

TO

SIR JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER,

K.C.S.I., C.B., F.R.S., ETC., ETC.

WHO, MORE THAN ANY OTHER WRITER,

HAS ADVANCED OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL

DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS, AND ESPECIALLY

OF INSULAR FLORAS,

I Dedicate this Volume

ON A KINDRED SUBJECT,

AS A TOKEN OF ADMIRATION AND REGARD.

* * *

{vi}

CORRECTIONS IN PRESENT ISSUE.

The first issue of this Edition being exhausted, the opportunity is taken of making a few corrections, the most important of which are here stated:--

Page 163. Statement modified as to supposed glaciation of South Africa.

Pages 174 and 338. Many geologists now hold that there was no great submergence during the glacial epoch. The passages referring to it have therefore been re-written.

Page 182. Colonel Fielden's explanation of the occurrence of large trees on shores and in recent drift in high latitudes, is now added.

" 272. A species of Carex peculiar to Bermuda is now given.

" 356. Geomalacus maculosus, as a peculiar British species, is now omitted.

Verbal alterations have also been made at pages 41, 105, 356, and 360.

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{vii}

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

This edition has been carefully revised throughout, and owing to the great increase to our knowledge of