[67] Although, for want of a better name, it may be admissible, when speaking either figuratively or poetically, to allude to this former region (as I have done in the above quotation) under the title of "Atlantis;" yet it seems incredible that certain writers (assuming its _quondam_ existence) should have recently referred to it seriously as the possible "Atlantis _of the ancients_!" Considering that there is good reason to believe that all these islands _were islands in a miocene sea_, and that, if (through a general elevation) they were subsequently connected, the land of passage was broken up long anterior to the appearance of man upon the earth, "the ancients" must have assuredly merited their appellation, if they could have thrown any light on a problem which belongs to an epoch thus remote. Whether the "Atlantis" had any being at all except in the imagination of the Latin poets, or whether (as Lord Bacon has suggested) it was the New World, will probably never now be known; yet the fact that the _Insulae Fortunatae_ of Juba are almost universally identified with the present Canarian Group (as indeed the accurate description of Pliny well nigh demonstrates), and the _Purpurariae_ with the Madeiras, ought at once, apart from geological evidence, to point out the absurdity of the hypothesis, that an Atlantic continent, _in the very position which those islands occupy_, could have been acknowledged to have any existence by the literature of either Rome or Greece. [68] Insecta Maderensia, p. 214. [69] Journal of Researches, pp. 326, 327. [70] Many of the _Calosomata_ would appear to possess this power of crossing, either by flight or by abandoning themselves to the waves (though more probably by the assistance of both), even marine barriers with impunity. Numerous instances are on record to this effect; and I am informed by Mr. Darwin that a _Calosoma_ flew on board the 'Beagle,' off the Bay of San Blas, in South America, whilst they were ten miles from shore. It seems likely, therefore, that the occasional occurrence of the _C. Syncophanta_ in our own country, along the southern and eastern coasts, is due to this generic capability,--and consequently (as indeed it is usually acknowledged to be), the result of accident. [71] Introduction to Entomology, ii. p. 13. [72] Principles of Geology, 9th ed. p. 657. [73] Although this is true on a broad scale, a reference to my observations in a preceding chapter will show, that in some countries, especially islands, the reverse will frequently be found to obtain. [74] Principles of Geology, p. 656. [75] Journal of Researches, p. 159. [76] Insecta Maderensia, p. 81. [77] Religion of Nature Delineated, pp. 73, 74. CHAPTER VI. THE GENERIC THEORY.