<p>DISPERSAL DURING THE GLACIAL PERIOD.</p>
<p>The identity of many plants and animals, on mountain-summits, separated
from each other by hundreds of miles of lowlands, where Alpine species
could not possibly exist, is one of the most striking cases known of the
same species living at distant points, without the apparent possibility of
their having migrated from one point to the other. It is indeed a
remarkable fact to see so many plants of the same species living on the
snowy regions of the Alps or Pyrenees, and in the extreme northern parts
of Europe; but it is far more remarkable, that the plants on the White
Mountains, in the United States of America, are all the same with those of
Labrador, and nearly all the same, as we hear from Asa Gray, with those on
the loftiest mountains of Europe. Even as long ago as 1747, such facts led
Gmelin to conclude that the same species must have been independently
created at many distinct points; and we might have remained in this same
belief, had not Agassiz and others called vivid attention to the Glacial
period, which, as we shall immediately see, affords a simple explanation
of these facts. We have evidence of almost every conceivable kind, organic
and inorganic, that, within a very recent geological period, central
Europe and North America suffered under an Arctic climate. The ruins of a
house burnt by fire do not tell their tale more plainly than do the
mountains of Scotland and Wales, with their scored flanks, polished
surfaces, and perched boulders, of the icy streams with which their
valleys were lately filled. So greatly has the climate of Europe changed,
that in Northern Italy, gigantic moraines, left by old glaciers, are now
clothed by the vine and maize. Throughout a large part of the United
States, erratic boulders and scored rocks plainly reveal a former cold
period.</p>
<p>The former influence of the glacial climate on the distribution of the
inhabitants of Europe, as explained by Edward Forbes, is substantially as
follows. But we shall follow the changes more readily, by supposing a new
glacial period slowly to come on, and then pass away, as formerly
occurred. As the cold came on, and as each more southern zone became
fitted for the inhabitants of the north, these would take the places of
the former inhabitants of the temperate regions. The latter, at the same
time would travel further and further southward, unless they were stopped
by barriers, in which case they would perish. The mountains would become
covered with snow and ice, and their former Alpine inhabitants would
descend to the plains. By the time that the cold had reached its maximum,
we should have an arctic fauna and flora, covering the central parts of
Europe, as far south as the Alps and Pyrenees, and even stretching into
Spain. The now temperate regions of the United States would likewise be
covered by arctic plants and animals and these would be nearly the same
with those of Europe; for the present circumpolar inhabitants, which we
suppose to have everywhere travelled southward, are remarkably uniform
round the world.</p>
<p>As the warmth returned, the arctic forms would retreat northward, closely
followed up in their retreat by the productions of the more temperate
regions. And as the snow melted from the bases of the mountains, the
arctic forms would seize on the cleared and thawed ground, always
ascending, as the warmth increased and the snow still further disappeared,
higher and higher, whilst their brethren were pursuing their northern
journey. Hence, when the warmth had fully returned, the same species,
which had lately lived together on the European and North American
lowlands, would again be found in the arctic regions of the Old and New
Worlds, and on many isolated mountain-summits far distant from each other.</p>
<p>Thus we can understand the identity of many plants at points so immensely
remote as the mountains of the United States and those of Europe. We can
thus also understand the fact that the Alpine plants of each
mountain-range are more especially related to the arctic forms living due
north or nearly due north of them: for the first migration when the cold
came on, and the re-migration on the returning warmth, would generally
have been due south and north. The Alpine plants, for example, of
Scotland, as remarked by Mr. H.C. Watson, and those of the Pyrenees, as
remarked by Ramond, are more especially allied to the plants of northern
Scandinavia; those of the United States to Labrador; those of the
mountains of Siberia to the arctic regions of that country. These views,
grounded as they are on the perfectly well-ascertained occurrence of a
former Glacial period, seem to me to explain in so satisfactory a manner
the present distribution of the Alpine and Arctic productions of Europe
and America, that when in other regions we find the same species on
distant mountain-summits, we may almost conclude, without other evidence,
that a colder climate formerly permitted their migration across the
intervening lowlands, now become too warm for their existence.</p>
<p>As the arctic forms moved first southward and afterwards backward to the
north, in unison with the changing climate, they will not have been
exposed during their long migrations to any great diversity of
temperature; and as they all migrated in a body together, their mutual
relations will not have been much disturbed. Hence, in accordance with the
principles inculcated in this volume, these forms will not have been
liable to much modification. But with the Alpine productions, left
isolated from the moment of the returning warmth, first at the bases and
ultimately on the summits of the mountains, the case will have been
somewhat different; for it is not likely that all the same arctic species
will have been left on mountain ranges far distant from each other, and
have survived there ever since; they will also, in all probability, have
become mingled with ancient Alpine species, which must have existed on the
mountains before the commencement of the Glacial epoch, and which during
the coldest period will have been temporarily driven down to the plains;
they will, also, have been subsequently exposed to somewhat different
climatical influences. Their mutual relations will thus have been in some
degree disturbed; consequently they will have been liable to modification;
and they have been modified; for if we compare the present Alpine plants
and animals of the several great European mountain ranges, one with
another, though many of the species remain identically the same, some
exist as varieties, some as doubtful forms or sub-species and some as
distinct yet closely allied species representing each other on the several
ranges.</p>
<p>In the foregoing illustration, I have assumed that at the commencement of
our imaginary Glacial period, the arctic productions were as uniform round
the polar regions as they are at the present day. But it is also necessary
to assume that many sub-arctic and some few temperate forms were the same
round the world, for some of the species which now exist on the lower
mountain slopes and on the plains of North America and Europe are the
same; and it may be asked how I account for this degree of uniformity of
the sub-arctic and temperate forms round the world, at the commencement of
the real Glacial period. At the present day, the sub-arctic and northern
temperate productions of the Old and New Worlds are separated from each
other by the whole Atlantic Ocean and by the northern part of the Pacific.
During the Glacial period, when the inhabitants of the Old and New Worlds
lived further southwards than they do at present, they must have been
still more completely separated from each other by wider spaces of ocean;
so that it may well be asked how the same species could then or previously
have entered the two continents. The explanation, I believe, lies in the
nature of the climate before the commencement of the Glacial period. At
this, the newer Pliocene period, the majority of the inhabitants of the
world were specifically the same as now, and we have good reason to
believe that the climate was warmer than at the present day. Hence, we may
suppose that the organisms which now live under latitude 60 degrees, lived
during the Pliocene period further north, under the Polar Circle, in
latitude 66-67 degrees; and that the present arctic productions then lived
on the broken land still nearer to the pole. Now, if we look at a
terrestrial globe, we see under the Polar Circle that there is almost
continuous land from western Europe through Siberia, to eastern America.
And this continuity of the circumpolar land, with the consequent freedom
under a more favourable climate for intermigration, will account for the
supposed uniformity of the sub-arctic and temperate productions of the Old
and New Worlds, at a period anterior to the Glacial epoch.</p>
<p>Believing, from reasons before alluded to, that our continents have long
remained in nearly the same relative position, though subjected to great
oscillations of level, I am strongly inclined to extend the above view,
and to infer that during some earlier and still warmer period, such as the
older Pliocene period, a large number of the same plants and animals
inhabited the almost continuous circumpolar land; and that these plants
and animals, both in the Old and New Worlds, began slowly to migrate
southwards as the climate became less warm, long before the commencement
of the Glacial period. We now see, as I believe, their descendants, mostly
in a modified condition, in the central parts of Europe and the United
States. On this view we can understand the relationship with very little
identity, between the productions of North America and Europe—a
relationship which is highly remarkable, considering the distance of the
two areas, and their separation by the whole Atlantic Ocean. We can
further understand the singular fact remarked on by several observers that
the productions of Europe and America during the later tertiary stages
were more closely related to each other than they are at the present time;
for during these warmer periods the northern parts of the Old and New
Worlds will have been almost continuously united by land, serving as a
bridge, since rendered impassable by cold, for the intermigration of their
inhabitants.</p>
<p>During the slowly decreasing warmth of the Pliocene period, as soon as the
species in common, which inhabited the New and Old Worlds, migrated south
of the Polar Circle, they will have been completely cut off from each
other. This separation, as far as the more temperate productions are
concerned, must have taken place long ages ago. As the plants and animals
migrated southward, they will have become mingled in the one great region
with the native American productions, and would have had to compete with
them; and in the other great region, with those of the Old World.
Consequently we have here everything favourable for much modification—for
far more modification than with the Alpine productions, left isolated,
within a much more recent period, on the several mountain ranges and on
the arctic lands of Europe and North America. Hence, it has come, that
when we compare the now living productions of the temperate regions of the
New and Old Worlds, we find very few identical species (though Asa Gray
has lately shown that more plants are identical than was formerly
supposed), but we find in every great class many forms, which some
naturalists rank as geographical races, and others as distinct species;
and a host of closely allied or representative forms which are ranked by
all naturalists as specifically distinct.</p>
<p>As on the land, so in the waters of the sea, a slow southern migration of
a marine fauna, which, during the Pliocene or even a somewhat earlier
period, was nearly uniform along the continuous shores of the Polar
Circle, will account, on the theory of modification, for many closely
allied forms now living in marine areas completely sundered. Thus, I
think, we can understand the presence of some closely allied, still
existing and extinct tertiary forms, on the eastern and western shores of
temperate North America; and the still more striking fact of many closely
allied crustaceans (as described in Dana's admirable work), some fish and
other marine animals, inhabiting the Mediterranean and the seas of Japan—these
two areas being now completely separated by the breadth of a whole
continent and by wide spaces of ocean.</p>
<p>These cases of close relationship in species either now or formerly
inhabiting the seas on the eastern and western shores of North America,
the Mediterranean and Japan, and the temperate lands of North America and
Europe, are inexplicable on the theory of creation. We cannot maintain
that such species have been created alike, in correspondence with the
nearly similar physical conditions of the areas; for if we compare, for
instance, certain parts of South America with parts of South Africa or
Australia, we see countries closely similar in all their physical
conditions, with their inhabitants utterly dissimilar.</p>
<p>ALTERNATE GLACIAL PERIODS IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH.</p>
<p>But we must return to our more immediate subject. I am convinced that
Forbes's view may be largely extended. In Europe we meet with the plainest
evidence of the Glacial period, from the western shores of Britain to the
Ural range, and southward to the Pyrenees. We may infer from the frozen
mammals and nature of the mountain vegetation, that Siberia was similarly
affected. In the Lebanon, according to Dr. Hooker, perpetual snow formerly
covered the central axis, and fed glaciers which rolled 4,000 feet down
the valleys. The same observer has recently found great moraines at a low
level on the Atlas range in North Africa. Along the Himalaya, at points
900 miles apart, glaciers have left the marks of their former low descent;
and in Sikkim, Dr. Hooker saw maize growing on ancient and gigantic
moraines. Southward of the Asiatic continent, on the opposite side of the
equator, we know, from the excellent researches of Dr. J. Haast and Dr.
Hector, that in New Zealand immense glaciers formerly descended to a low
level; and the same plants, found by Dr. Hooker on widely separated
mountains in this island tell the same story of a former cold period. From
facts communicated to me by the Rev. W.B. Clarke, it appears also that
there are traces of former glacial action on the mountains of the
south-eastern corner of Australia.</p>
<p>Looking to America: in the northern half, ice-borne fragments of rock have
been observed on the eastern side of the continent, as far south as
latitude 36 and 37 degrees, and on the shores of the Pacific, where the
climate is now so different, as far south as latitude 46 degrees. Erratic
boulders have, also, been noticed on the Rocky Mountains. In the
Cordillera of South America, nearly under the equator, glaciers once
extended far below their present level. In central Chile I examined a vast
mound of detritus with great boulders, crossing the Portillo valley,
which, there can hardly be a doubt, once formed a huge moraine; and Mr. D.
Forbes informs me that he found in various parts of the Cordillera, from
latitude 13 to 30 degrees south, at about the height of 12,000 feet,
deeply-furrowed rocks, resembling those with which he was familiar in
Norway, and likewise great masses of detritus, including grooved pebbles.
Along this whole space of the Cordillera true glaciers do not now exist
even at much more considerable heights. Further south, on both sides of
the continent, from latitude 41 degrees to the southernmost extremity, we
have the clearest evidence of former glacial action, in numerous immense
boulders transported far from their parent source.</p>
<p>From these several facts, namely, from the glacial action having extended
all round the northern and southern hemispheres—from the period
having been in a geological sense recent in both hemispheres—from
its having lasted in both during a great length of time, as may be
inferred from the amount of work effected—and lastly, from glaciers
having recently descended to a low level along the whole line of the
Cordillera, it at one time appeared to me that we could not avoid the
conclusion that the temperature of the whole world had been simultaneously
lowered during the Glacial period. But now, Mr. Croll, in a series of
admirable memoirs, has attempted to show that a glacial condition of
climate is the result of various physical causes, brought into operation
by an increase in the eccentricity of the earth's orbit. All these causes
tend towards the same end; but the most powerful appears to be the
indirect influence of the eccentricity of the orbit upon oceanic currents.
According to Mr. Croll, cold periods regularly recur every ten or fifteen
thousand years; and these at long intervals are extremely severe, owing to
certain contingencies, of which the most important, as Sir C. Lyell has
shown, is the relative position of the land and water. Mr. Croll believes
that the last great glacial period occurred about 240,000 years ago, and
endured, with slight alterations of climate, for about 160,000 years. With
respect to more ancient glacial periods, several geologists are convinced,
from direct evidence, that such occurred during the miocene and eocene
formations, not to mention still more ancient formations. But the most
important result for us, arrived at by Mr. Croll, is that whenever the
northern hemisphere passes through a cold period the temperature of the
southern hemisphere is actually raised, with the winters rendered much
milder, chiefly through changes in the direction of the ocean currents. So
conversely it will be with the northern hemisphere, while the southern
passes through a glacial period. This conclusion throws so much light on
geographical distribution that I am strongly inclined to trust in it; but
I will first give the facts which demand an explanation.</p>
<p>In South America, Dr. Hooker has shown that besides many closely allied
species, between forty and fifty of the flowering plants of Tierra del
Fuego, forming no inconsiderable part of its scanty flora, are common to
North America and Europe, enormously remote as these areas in opposite
hemispheres are from each other. On the lofty mountains of equatorial
America a host of peculiar species belonging to European genera occur. On
the Organ Mountains of Brazil some few temperate European, some Antarctic
and some Andean genera were found by Gardner which do not exist in the low
intervening hot countries. On the Silla of Caraccas the illustrious
Humboldt long ago found species belonging to genera characteristic of the
Cordillera.</p>
<p>In Africa, several forms characteristic of Europe, and some few
representatives of the flora of the Cape of Good Hope, occur on the
mountains of Abyssinia. At the Cape of Good Hope a very few European
species, believed not to have been introduced by man, and on the mountains
several representative European forms are found which have not been
discovered in the intertropical parts of Africa. Dr. Hooker has also
lately shown that several of the plants living on the upper parts of the
lofty island of Fernando Po, and on the neighbouring Cameroon Mountains,
in the Gulf of Guinea, are closely related to those on the mountains of
Abyssinia, and likewise to those of temperate Europe. It now also appears,
as I hear from Dr. Hooker, that some of these same temperate plants have
been discovered by the Rev. R.T. Lowe on the mountains of the Cape Verde
Islands. This extension of the same temperate forms, almost under the
equator, across the whole continent of Africa and to the mountains of the
Cape Verde archipelago, is one of the most astonishing facts ever recorded
in the distribution of plants.</p>
<p>On the Himalaya, and on the isolated mountain ranges of the peninsula of
India, on the heights of Ceylon, and on the volcanic cones of Java, many
plants occur either identically the same or representing each other, and
at the same time representing plants of Europe not found in the
intervening hot lowlands. A list of the genera of plants collected on the
loftier peaks of Java, raises a picture of a collection made on a hillock
in Europe. Still more striking is the fact that peculiar Australian forms
are represented by certain plants growing on the summits of the mountains
of Borneo. Some of these Australian forms, as I hear from Dr. Hooker,
extend along the heights of the peninsula of Malacca, and are thinly
scattered on the one hand over India, and on the other hand as far north
as Japan.</p>
<p>On the southern mountains of Australia, Dr. F. Muller has discovered
several European species; other species, not introduced by man, occur on
the lowlands; and a long list can be given, as I am informed by Dr.
Hooker, of European genera, found in Australia, but not in the
intermediate torrid regions. In the admirable "Introduction to the Flora
of New Zealand," by Dr. Hooker, analogous and striking facts are given in
regard to the plants of that large island. Hence, we see that certain
plants growing on the more lofty mountains of the tropics in all parts of
the world, and on the temperate plains of the north and south, are either
the same species or varieties of the same species. It should, however, be
observed that these plants are not strictly arctic forms; for, as Mr. H.C.
Watson has remarked, "in receding from polar toward equatorial latitudes,
the Alpine or mountain flora really become less and less Arctic." Besides
these identical and closely allied forms, many species inhabiting the same
widely sundered areas, belong to genera not now found in the intermediate
tropical lowlands.</p>
<p>These brief remarks apply to plants alone; but some few analogous facts
could be given in regard to terrestrial animals. In marine productions,
similar cases likewise occur; as an example, I may quote a statement by
the highest authority, Prof. Dana, that "it is certainly a wonderful fact
that New Zealand should have a closer resemblance in its crustacea to
Great Britain, its antipode, than to any other part of the world." Sir J.
Richardson, also, speaks of the reappearance on the shores of New Zealand,
Tasmania, etc., of northern forms of fish. Dr. Hooker informs me that
twenty-five species of Algae are common to New Zealand and to Europe, but
have not been found in the intermediate tropical seas.</p>
<p>From the foregoing facts, namely, the presence of temperate forms on the
highlands across the whole of equatorial Africa, and along the Peninsula
of India, to Ceylon and the Malay Archipelago, and in a less well-marked
manner across the wide expanse of tropical South America, it appears
almost certain that at some former period, no doubt during the most severe
part of a Glacial period, the lowlands of these great continents were
everywhere tenanted under the equator by a considerable number of
temperate forms. At this period the equatorial climate at the level of the
sea was probably about the same with that now experienced at the height of
from five to six thousand feet under the same latitude, or perhaps even
rather cooler. During this, the coldest period, the lowlands under the
equator must have been clothed with a mingled tropical and temperate
vegetation, like that described by Hooker as growing luxuriantly at the
height of from four to five thousand feet on the lower slopes of the
Himalaya, but with perhaps a still greater preponderance of temperate
forms. So again in the mountainous island of Fernando Po, in the Gulf of
Guinea, Mr. Mann found temperate European forms beginning to appear at the
height of about five thousand feet. On the mountains of Panama, at the
height of only two thousand feet, Dr. Seemann found the vegetation like
that of Mexico, "with forms of the torrid zone harmoniously blended with
those of the temperate."</p>
<p>Now let us see whether Mr. Croll's conclusion that when the northern
hemisphere suffered from the extreme cold of the great Glacial period, the
southern hemisphere was actually warmer, throws any clear light on the
present apparently inexplicable distribution of various organisms in the
temperate parts of both hemispheres, and on the mountains of the tropics.
The Glacial period, as measured by years, must have been very long; and
when we remember over what vast spaces some naturalised plants and animals
have spread within a few centuries, this period will have been ample for
any amount of migration. As the cold became more and more intense, we know
that Arctic forms invaded the temperate regions; and from the facts just
given, there can hardly be a doubt that some of the more vigorous,
dominant and widest-spreading temperate forms invaded the equatorial
lowlands. The inhabitants of these hot lowlands would at the same time
have migrated to the tropical and subtropical regions of the south, for
the southern hemisphere was at this period warmer. On the decline of the
Glacial period, as both hemispheres gradually recovered their former
temperature, the northern temperate forms living on the lowlands under the
equator, would have been driven to their former homes or have been
destroyed, being replaced by the equatorial forms returning from the
south. Some, however, of the northern temperate forms would almost
certainly have ascended any adjoining high land, where, if sufficiently
lofty, they would have long survived like the Arctic forms on the
mountains of Europe. They might have survived, even if the climate was not
perfectly fitted for them, for the change of temperature must have been
very slow, and plants undoubtedly possess a certain capacity for
acclimatisation, as shown by their transmitting to their offspring
different constitutional powers of resisting heat and cold.</p>
<p>In the regular course of events the southern hemisphere would in its turn
be subjected to a severe Glacial period, with the northern hemisphere
rendered warmer; and then the southern temperate forms would invade the
equatorial lowlands. The northern forms which had before been left on the
mountains would now descend and mingle with the southern forms. These
latter, when the warmth returned, would return to their former homes,
leaving some few species on the mountains, and carrying southward with
them some of the northern temperate forms which had descended from their
mountain fastnesses. Thus, we should have some few species identically the
same in the northern and southern temperate zones and on the mountains of
the intermediate tropical regions. But the species left during a long time
on these mountains, or in opposite hemispheres, would have to compete with
many new forms and would be exposed to somewhat different physical
conditions; hence, they would be eminently liable to modification, and
would generally now exist as varieties or as representative species; and
this is the case. We must, also, bear in mind the occurrence in both
hemispheres of former Glacial periods; for these will account, in
accordance with the same principles, for the many quite distinct species
inhabiting the same widely separated areas, and belonging to genera not
now found in the intermediate torrid zones.</p>
<p>It is a remarkable fact, strongly insisted on by Hooker in regard to
America, and by Alph. de Candolle in regard to Australia, that many more
identical or slightly modified species have migrated from the north to the
south, than in a reversed direction. We see, however, a few southern forms
on the mountains of Borneo and Abyssinia. I suspect that this preponderant
migration from the north to the south is due to the greater extent of land
in the north, and to the northern forms having existed in their own homes
in greater numbers, and having consequently been advanced through natural
selection and competition to a higher stage of perfection, or dominating
power, than the southern forms. And thus, when the two sets became
commingled in the equatorial regions, during the alternations of the
Glacial periods, the northern forms were the more powerful and were able
to hold their places on the mountains, and afterwards migrate southward
with the southern forms; but not so the southern in regard to the northern
forms. In the same manner, at the present day, we see that very many
European productions cover the ground in La Plata, New Zealand, and to a
lesser degree in Australia, and have beaten the natives; whereas extremely
few southern forms have become naturalised in any part of the northern
hemisphere, though hides, wool, and other objects likely to carry seeds
have been largely imported into Europe during the last two or three
centuries from La Plata and during the last forty or fifty years from
Australia. The Neilgherrie Mountains in India, however, offer a partial
exception; for here, as I hear from Dr. Hooker, Australian forms are
rapidly sowing themselves and becoming naturalised. Before the last great
Glacial period, no doubt the intertropical mountains were stocked with
endemic Alpine forms; but these have almost everywhere yielded to the more
dominant forms generated in the larger areas and more efficient workshops
of the north. In many islands the native productions are nearly equalled,
or even outnumbered, by those which have become naturalised; and this is
the first stage towards their extinction. Mountains are islands on the
land; and their inhabitants have yielded to those produced within the
larger areas of the north, just in the same way as the inhabitants of real
islands have everywhere yielded and are still yielding to continental
forms naturalised through man's agency.</p>
<p>The same principles apply to the distribution of terrestrial animals and
of marine productions, in the northern and southern temperate zones, and
on the intertropical mountains. When, during the height of the Glacial
period, the ocean-currents were widely different to what they now are,
some of the inhabitants of the temperate seas might have reached the
equator; of these a few would perhaps at once be able to migrate
southwards, by keeping to the cooler currents, while others might remain
and survive in the colder depths until the southern hemisphere was in its
turn subjected to a glacial climate and permitted their further progress;
in nearly the same manner as, according to Forbes, isolated spaces
inhabited by Arctic productions exist to the present day in the deeper
parts of the northern temperate seas.</p>
<p>I am far from supposing that all the difficulties in regard to the
distribution and affinities of the identical and allied species, which now
live so widely separated in the north and south, and sometimes on the
intermediate mountain ranges, are removed on the views above given. The
exact lines of migration cannot be indicated. We cannot say why certain
species and not others have migrated; why certain species have been
modified and have given rise to new forms, while others have remained
unaltered. We cannot hope to explain such facts, until we can say why one
species and not another becomes naturalised by man's agency in a foreign
land; why one species ranges twice or thrice as far, and is twice or
thrice as common, as another species within their own homes.</p>
<p>Various special difficulties also remain to be solved; for instance, the
occurrence, as shown by Dr. Hooker, of the same plants at points so
enormously remote as Kerguelen Land, New Zealand, and Fuegia; but
icebergs, as suggested by Lyell, may have been concerned in their
dispersal. The existence at these and other distant points of the southern
hemisphere, of species, which, though distinct, belong to genera
exclusively confined to the south, is a more remarkable case. Some of
these species are so distinct, that we cannot suppose that there has been
time since the commencement of the last Glacial period for their migration
and subsequent modification to the necessary degree. The facts seem to
indicate that distinct species belonging to the same genera have migrated
in radiating lines from a common centre; and I am inclined to look in the
southern, as in the northern hemisphere, to a former and warmer period,
before the commencement of the last Glacial period, when the Antarctic
lands, now covered with ice, supported a highly peculiar and isolated
flora. It may be suspected that before this flora was exterminated during
the last Glacial epoch, a few forms had been already widely dispersed to
various points of the southern hemisphere by occasional means of
transport, and by the aid, as halting-places, of now sunken islands. Thus
the southern shores of America, Australia, and New Zealand may have become
slightly tinted by the same peculiar forms of life.</p>
<p>Sir C. Lyell in a striking passage has speculated, in language almost
identical with mine, on the effects of great alternations of climate
throughout the world on geographical distribution. And we have now seen
that Mr. Croll's conclusion that successive Glacial periods in the one
hemisphere coincide with warmer periods in the opposite hemisphere,
together with the admission of the slow modification of species, explains
a multitude of facts in the distribution of the same and of the allied
forms of life in all parts of the globe. The living waters have flowed
during one period from the north and during another from the south, and in
both cases have reached the equator; but the stream of life has flowed
with greater force from the north than in the opposite direction, and has
consequently more freely inundated the south. As the tide leaves its drift
in horizontal lines, rising higher on the shores where the tide rises
highest, so have the living waters left their living drift on our mountain
summits, in a line gently rising from the Arctic lowlands to a great
latitude under the equator. The various beings thus left stranded may be
compared with savage races of man, driven up and surviving in the mountain
fastnesses of almost every land, which serves as a record, full of
interest to us, of the former inhabitants of the surrounding lowlands.</p>
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