whatever elevations and subsidences these countries may have undergone, they have not been connected either with Asia, Africa, or South America during the whole Tertiary period. In conclusion, I would especially remark that the various changes in the outlines and mutual relations of our continents, which I have now endeavoured to establish, must not be supposed to have been all strictly contemporaneous. Some may have been a little earlier or a little later than others; some changes may have been slower, others more rapid; some may have had but a short duration, while others may have persisted through considerable geological periods. But, notwithstanding this uncertainty as to details, the great features of the geographical revolutions which I have indicated, appear to be established by a mass of concurring evidence; and the lesson they teach us is, that although almost the whole of what is now dry land has undoubtedly once lain deep beneath the waters of the ocean, yet such changes on a great scale are excessively slow and gradual; so that, when compared with the highest estimates of the antiquity of the human race, or even with that of most of the higher animals, our existing continents and oceans may be looked upon as permanent features of the earth's surface. ERRATUM. Ar page 59 I have said that there are only three or four species of Mimosa which are sensitive. This is a mistake, as the greater portion of the species in the extensive genus Mimosa, as well as some species of several other genera of Leguminosa, and also of Oxalidaceæ, possess this curious property. I cannot find, however, that any one has suggested in what way the sensitiveness may have been useful to the species which first acquired it. My guess at an explanation may therefore induce botanists who are acquainted with the various species in a state of nature, to suggest some better solution of the problem. Argus-pheasant, wonderful plumage of, 205 Arums, 48 Assai of the Amazon, 43 Auckland Isles, handsome flowers of, Audubon, on the ruby humming-birds, Australian Region, mammalia of, 340 extinct fauna of, 341 its supposed union with S. America, 341 Azara, on food of humming-birds, 135 BAMBOOS, 52 B. uses of, 53-58 Barber, Mrs. on colour changes of pupa Bark, varieties of in tropical forests, 33 and London, diagram of mean greatest rainfall at, 24 Bates, Mr. on climate at the Equator, 24 on animal life in Amazon valley, 70 on importance of study of butter- on leaf-cutting ants, 86 on bird-catching spider, 97 on large serpents, 115 on the habits of humming birds, 132 1 on use of light of glow-worm, 205 Bill of humming-birds, 129 how many known, 124 cases of local variation of colour influence of locality on colours of, which fertilize flowers, 273, 274 and insects blown to oceanic islands, of Palearctic Region, 316 of Ethiopian Region, 318 Bullock on food of humming-birds, 153 Burchell, Dr., on the "stone mes- Butterflies, abundance of, in tropical Campylopterus hemilcucurus, pugna- Cecropias, trees inhabited by ants, 89 white-marked birds of, 263 Ceylon and Malaya, resemblances of Chameleons, 113 Chameleon, cause of changes of its Chemical action changes colours, 183 Chrysobactron Rossii, 238 Clark, Rev. Hamlet on leaf-cutting Climate of Equator, general features of, changes of, in animals produced by voluntary change of, in animals, not usually influenced by coloured Colour, the nature of, 180 how produced, 183 a normal product of organization, as a means of recognition, 196 not caused by female selection, 198 same theory of, in animals and of flowers and their distribution, Colour, nomenclature of, formerly im- Colour-development as illustrated by |