Tropical Nature, and Other EssaysAMS Press, 1878 - 356 pages |
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Page 3
... ground between these two well contrasted belts local causes have a pre- ponderating influence ; and it would not be difficult to point out localities within the temperate zone of our maps , which exhibit all the chief characteristics of ...
... ground between these two well contrasted belts local causes have a pre- ponderating influence ; and it would not be difficult to point out localities within the temperate zone of our maps , which exhibit all the chief characteristics of ...
Page 30
... ground subdued and broken up into scattered fragments . There is a weird gloom and a solemn silence , which combine to produce a sense of the vast - the primeval - almost of the infinite . It is a world in which man seems an intruder ...
... ground subdued and broken up into scattered fragments . There is a weird gloom and a solemn silence , which combine to produce a sense of the vast - the primeval - almost of the infinite . It is a world in which man seems an intruder ...
Page 31
... ground as if their bases were concealed by accumu- lations of the soil ; others get much thicker near the ground like our spreading oaks ; others again , and these are very characteristic , send out towards the base flat and wing - like ...
... ground as if their bases were concealed by accumu- lations of the soil ; others get much thicker near the ground like our spreading oaks ; others again , and these are very characteristic , send out towards the base flat and wing - like ...
Page 32
... ground . 2. 3. Sections much higher up . forest - tree , more than 200 feet high , but rather slender in proportion , and it was by no means an extreme example of its class . This peculiar form is probably produced by the downward ...
... ground . 2. 3. Sections much higher up . forest - tree , more than 200 feet high , but rather slender in proportion , and it was by no means an extreme example of its class . This peculiar form is probably produced by the downward ...
Page 34
... ground itself we find much variety . Sometimes it is completely bare , a mass of decaying leaves and twigs and fallen fruits . More frequently it is covered with a dense carpet of selaginella or other lycopodiacea , and these sometimes ...
... ground itself we find much variety . Sometimes it is completely bare , a mass of decaying leaves and twigs and fallen fruits . More frequently it is covered with a dense carpet of selaginella or other lycopodiacea , and these sometimes ...
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Common terms and phrases
abundant adapted adorned Africa allied Amazon animals ants Asia attract bamboo Batavia beautiful become birds blue brilliant butterflies carnivora causes changes character characteristic climate colour Colours of Animals comparatively conspicuous continent curious Danaid¿ Darwin distinct Eocene equator equatorial zone existence extensive fact families fauna favourable feet female ferns fertilization flowers foliage forests fruits genera genus greater green groups habits heat humming-birds hy¿nas immense inhabit insects Juan Fernandez land larger larv¿ leaves lemurs less light Madagascar Malay Archipelago male mammalia marsupials Miocene monkeys natural selection naturalists North northern observed occur oceanic ornaments Palearctic parrots peculiar perhaps phenomena plants plumage probably produced proportion protection rays region remarkable resemble sexual selection showy slender sometimes South America species spots structure sun-birds surface tail temperate zones temperature theory tints tion trees tropical trunks Ungulata variation varied variety vegetation whole wings yellow
Popular passages
Page 286 - And assuredly, there is no mark of degradation about any part of its structure. It is, in fact, a fair average human skull, which might have belonged to a philosopher, or might have contained the thoughtless brains of a savage.
Page 134 - I have seen the female sitting quietly on a branch, and two males displaying their charms in front of her. One would shoot up like HUMMING-BIRDS a rocket, then suddenly expanding the snow-white tail like an inverted parachute, slowly descend in front of her, turning round gradually to show off both back and front.
Page 62 - ... from tree to tree, entangling the giants in a great network of coiling cables. Sometimes a tree appears covered with beautiful flowers which do not belong to it, but to one of the lianas that twines through its branches and sends down great rope-like stems to the ground. Climbing ferns and vanilla cling to the trunks, and a thousand epiphytes perch themselves on the branches. Amongst these are large arums that send down long aerial roots, tough and strong, and universally used instead of cordage...
Page 201 - Dr. Wallace, who has had such immense experience in breeding Bombyx cynthia, is convinced that the females evince no choice or preference. He has kept above 300 of these moths living...
Page 289 - ... various forms, and especially to the gibbons ; so that in all probability the special line of variation which led up to man branched off at a still earlier period. And these early forms, being the initiation of a far higher type, and having to develop by natural selection into so...
Page 25 - The approach of the rain-clouds was after a uniform fashion very interesting to observe. First, the cool sea-breeze, which commenced to blow about ten o'clock, and which had increased in force with the increasing power of the sun, would flag and finally die away. The heat and electric tension of the atmosphere would then become almost insupportable. Languor and uneasiness would seize on every one, even the denizens of the forest, betraying it by their motions.
Page 123 - ... while in the temperate regions there have been a series of periodical checks and extinctions of a more or less disastrous nature, necessitating the commencement of the work of development in certain lines over and over again. In the one, evolution has had a fair chance ; in the other, it has had countless difficulties thrown in its way. The equatorial regions are then, as regards their past and present life history, a more ancient world than that represented by the temperate zones, a world in...
Page 179 - It is a suggestive fact that all the brightly-coloured birds mentioned above build in holes or form covered nests, so that the females do not need that protection during the breeding season which I believe to be one of the chief causes of the dull colour of female birds when their partners are gaily coloured.
Page 172 - Animals," (Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection, p. 45), that very little need be added here except a few words of general explanation. Protective colours are exceedingly prevalent in nature, comprising those of all the white arctic animals, the sandy-coloured desert forms, and the green birds and insects ' of tropical forests. It also comprises thousands...