ASTERN 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

* * * * *

ISLAND LIFE

PART I

_THE DISPERSAL OF ORGANISMS_

_ITS PHENOMENA, LAWS, AND CAUSES_

{3}

CHAPTER I

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, yet when he visits the interior of
the country he sees so many familiar natural objects that he can hardly
help fancying he is close to his home. He finds the woods and fields
tenanted by tits, hedge-sparrows, wrens, wagtails, larks, redbreasts, {4}
thrushes, buntings, and house-sparrows, some absolutely identical with our
own feathered friends, other