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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.

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Argus-pheasant, wonderful plumage of,

205

Arums, 48

Assai of the Amazon, 43

Auckland Isles, handsome flowers of,
238

Audubon, on the ruby humming-birds,
130, 137

Australian Region, mammalia of, 340
birds 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
Bananas, wild, 47
Banana, 48

Barber, Mrs. on colour changes of pupa
of Papilio nireus, 168
Barbets, 105

Bark, varieties of in tropical forests, 33
Barometer, range of, at Batavia, 24
Batavia, Meteorology of, 4

and London, diagram of mean
temperatures, 5

greatest rainfall at, 24
range of barometer at, 24

Bates, Mr. on climate at the Equator, 24
on scarcity of forest-flowers on
Amazon, 61

on animal life in Amazon valley, 70
on abundance of butterflies at Ega,
75

on importance of study of butter-
flies, 78

on leaf-cutting ants, 86
on blind ants, 88

on bird-catching spider, 97
on use of toucan's bill, 108

on large serpents, 115

on the habits of humming birds,

132

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on use of light of glow-worm, 205
Betel-nut, 45

Bill of humming-birds, 129
Biology, by-paths of, illustrated, 251
Birds, 99

how many known, 124

cases of local variation of colour
among, 262

influence of locality on colours of,
255

which fertilize flowers, 273, 274

and insects blown to oceanic islands,
308

of Palearctic Region, 316

of Ethiopian Region, 318
of Oriental Region, 320
Bonelli, Mr., on the Sappho comet
humming-bird, 132

Bullock on food of humming-birds, 153
Buprestidæ, 94

Burchell, Dr., on the "stone mes-
embryanthemum," 223

Butterflies, abundance of, in tropical
forests, 72

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Campylopterus hemilcucurus, pugna-
cious and ornamental, 214
Cattleyas, 51

Cecropias, trees inhabited by ants, 89
Celebes, large and peculiarly formed
butterflies of, 259

white-marked birds of, 263
Centipedes, 97

Ceylon and Malaya, resemblances of
fauna of, 327

Chameleons, 113

Chameleon, cause of changes of its
colour, 170

Chemical action changes colours, 183
Chili, humming-birds of, 141
Chiroptera, 119

Chrysobactron Rossii, 238

Clark, Rev. Hamlet on leaf-cutting
ants, 86

Climate of Equator, general features of,

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changes of, in animals produced by
coloured light, 167

voluntary change of, in animals,
170

not usually influenced by coloured
light, 171

Colour, the nature of, 180

how produced, 183
changed by heat, 183

a normal product of organization,
185

as a means of recognition, 196
proportionate to integumentary de-
velopment, 198

not caused by female selection, 198
Colour absent in wind-fertilized flowers,
233

same theory of, in animals and
plants, 234

of flowers and their distribution,
235

Colour, nomenclature of, formerly im-
perfect, 247

Colour-development as illustrated by
humming-birds, 212

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