The Project Gutenberg EBook of 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: ASCII

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

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

* * * * *

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