tabular analysis to these three cases, we obtain the following most astonishing results. For the sake of simplicity I will omit the enumeration of peculiar genera, and confine attention to peculiar species. Moreover, I will consider only terrestrial animals; for, as we have already seen, aquatic animals are so much more likely to reach oceanic islands that they do not furnish nearly so fair a test of the evolutionary hypothesis. PECULIAR SPECIES. +------------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------+ | | Shells. | Insects. | Reptiles. | Birds. | Mammals. | | +---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------+ | Sandwich. | 400 | ? | 2 | 16 | 0 | | Galapagos | 15 | 35 | 10 | 30 | 0 | | St. Helena | 20 | 128 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +------------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------+ | Totals. | 435 | 163 | 12 | 47 | 0 | +------------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------+ NON-PECULIAR SPECIES. +------------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------+ | | Shells. | Insects. | Reptiles. | Birds. | Mammals. | | +---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------+ | Sandwich. | 0 | ? | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Galapagos | ? | ? | 0 | 1 | 0 | | St. Helena | 0 | ? | 0 | 0 | 0 | +------------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------+ | Totals. | 0 | ? | 0 | 1 | 0 | +------------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------+ From this synopsis we perceive that out of a total of 658 species of terrestrial animals known to inhabit these three oceanic territories, all are peculiar, with the exception of a single land-bird which is found in the Galapagos Islands. This is the rice-bird, so very abundant on the American continent that its representatives must not unfrequently become the involuntary colonists of the Archipelago. There are, however, a few species of non-peculiar insects inhabiting the Sandwich and Galapagos Islands, the exact number of which is doubtful, and on this account are not here quoted. But at most they would be represented by units, and therefore do not affect the general result. Lastly, the remarkable fact will be noted, that there is no single representative of the mammalian class in any of these islands. If we turn next to consider the case of plants, we obtain the following result:--