More Letters of Charles Darwin, vol 2 | Page 7

great rivers.
But no light is thus thrown on the affinity of the Amazon form. I now
find from Flower's paper (384/3. "Zoolog. Trans." VI., 1869, page 115.
The toothed whales are divided into the Physeteridae, the Delphinidae,
and the Platanistidae, which latter is placed between the two other
families, and is divided into the sub-families Iniinae and Platanistinae.)
that these fresh-water porpoises form two sub- families, making an
extremely isolated and intermediate, very small family. Hence to us
they are clearly remnants of a large group; and I cannot doubt we here
have a good instance precisely like that of ganoid fishes, of a large
ancient marine group, preserved exclusively in fresh-water, where there
has been less competition, and consequently little modification. (384/4.
See Volume I., Letter 95.) What a grand fact that is which Miquel gives
of the beech not extending beyond the Caucasus, and then reappearing
in Japan, like your Himalayan Pinus, and the cedar of Lebanon. (384/5.
For Pinus read Deodar. The essential identity of the deodar and the
cedar of Lebanon was pointed out in Hooker's "Himalayan Journals" in
1854 (Volume I., page 257.n). In the "Nat. History Review," January,
1862, the question is more fully dealt with by him, and the distribution
discussed. The nearest point at which cedars occur is the Bulgar-dagh
chain of Taurus--250 miles from Lebanon. Under the name of Cedrus
atlantica the tree occurs in mass on the borders of Tunis, and as Deodar
it first appears to the east in the cedar forests of Afghanistan. Sir J.D.
Hooker supposes that, during a period of greater cold, the cedars on the

Taurus and on Lebanon lived many thousand feet nearer the sea-level,
and spread much farther to the east, meeting similar belts of trees
descending and spreading westward from Afghanistan along the
Persian mountains.) I know of nothing that gives one such an idea of
the recent mutations in the surface of the land as these living "outlyers."
In the geological sense we must, I suppose, admit that every yard of
land has been successively covered with a beech forest between the
Caucasus and Japan!
I have not yet seen (for I have not sent to the station) Falconer's works.
When you say that you sigh to think how poor your reprinted memoirs
would appear, on my soul I should like to shake you till your bones
rattled for talking such nonsense. Do you sigh over the "Insular Floras,"
the Introduction to New Zealand Flora, to Australia, your Arctic Flora,
and dear Galapagos, etc., etc., etc.? In imagination I am grinding my
teeth and choking you till I put sense into you. Farewell. I have amused
myself by writing an audaciously long letter. By the way, we heard
yesterday that George has won the second Smith's Prize, which I am
excessively glad of, as the Second Wrangler by no means always
succeeds. The examination consists exclusively of [the] most difficult
subjects, which such men as Stokes, Cayley, and Adams can set.
LETTER 385. A.R. WALLACE TO CHARLES DARWIN. March 8th,
1868.
...While writing a few pages on the northern alpine forms of plants on
the Java mountains I wanted a few cases to refer to like Teneriffe,
where there are no northern forms and scarcely any alpine. I expected
the volcanoes of Hawaii would be a good case, and asked Dr. Seemann
about them. It seems a man has lately published a list of Hawaiian
plants, and the mountains swarm with European alpine genera and
some species! (385/1. "This turns out to be inaccurate, or greatly
exaggerated. There are no true alpines, and the European genera are
comparatively few. See my 'Island Life,' page 323."-- A.R.W.) Is not
this most extraordinary, and a puzzler? They are, I believe, truly
oceanic islands, in the absence of mammals and the extreme poverty of
birds and insects, and they are within the Tropics.
Will not that be a hard nut for you when you come to treat in detail on
geographical distribution? I enclose Seemann's note, which please
return when you have copied the list, if of any use to you.

LETTER 386. TO J.D. HOOKER. Down, February 21st [1870].
I read yesterday the notes on Round Island (386/1. In Wallace's "Island
Life," page 410, Round Island is described as an islet "only about a
mile across, and situated about fourteen miles north-east of Mauritius."
Wallace mentions a snake, a python belonging to the peculiar and
distinct genus Casarea, as found on Round Island, and nowhere else in
the world. The palm Latania Loddigesii is quoted by Wallace as
"confined to Round Island and two other adjacent islets." See Baker's
"Flora of the Mauritius and the Seychelles." Mr. Wallace says that,
judging from the soundings, Round Island was connected with
Mauritius, and that when it