Tropical Nature, and Other EssaysRead Books Ltd, 25. mai 2016 - 418 pages This early work by Alfred Russel Wallace was originally published in 1878 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'Tropical Nature, and Other Essays' is a collection of essays including Wallace's observations on equatorial vegetation, animal life, and sexual. Alfred Russel Wallace was born on 8th January 1823 in the village of Llanbadoc, in Monmouthshire, Wales. Wallace was inspired by the travelling naturalists of the day and decided to begin his exploration career collecting specimens in the Amazon rainforest. He explored the Rio Negra for four years, making notes on the peoples and languages he encountered as well as the geography, flora, and fauna. While travelling, Wallace refined his thoughts about evolution and in 1858 he outlined his theory of natural selection in an article he sent to Charles Darwin. Wallace made a huge contribution to the natural sciences and he will continue to be remembered as one of the key figures in the development of evolutionary theory. |
From inside the book
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... resembling a coarse cloth, and in other cases more like horsehair. The flowers are not individually large, but form large spikes or racemes, and the fruits are often beautifully scaled and hang in huge bunches which are sometimes more ...
... resembling a coarse cloth, and in other cases more like horsehair. The flowers are not individually large, but form large spikes or racemes, and the fruits are often beautifully scaled and hang in huge bunches which are sometimes more ...
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... resembling at first sight those of some herbaceous floweringplants. Their numbers may be judged from the fact that in the vicinity of Tarrapoto, in Peru, Dr. Spruce gathered 250 species of ferns, while the single volcanic mountains of ...
... resembling at first sight those of some herbaceous floweringplants. Their numbers may be judged from the fact that in the vicinity of Tarrapoto, in Peru, Dr. Spruce gathered 250 species of ferns, while the single volcanic mountains of ...
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... resembling roasted chestnuts; when ripe it is sometimes pulped and boiled with water, making a very agreeable sweet soup; or it is roasted, or cut into slices and fried, in either form being a delicious tropical substitute for fruit ...
... resembling roasted chestnuts; when ripe it is sometimes pulped and boiled with water, making a very agreeable sweet soup; or it is roasted, or cut into slices and fried, in either form being a delicious tropical substitute for fruit ...
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... resemble Yuccas, but have larger leaves which grow in a close spiral screw on the stem. Some are large and palmlike, and it is a curious sight to stand under these and look up at the huge vegetable screw formed by the bases of the long ...
... resemble Yuccas, but have larger leaves which grow in a close spiral screw on the stem. Some are large and palmlike, and it is a curious sight to stand under these and look up at the huge vegetable screw formed by the bases of the long ...
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... resembling the light and airy plumes of the birdofparadise copied on a gigantic scale in living foliage. Such clumps are often eighty or a hundred feet high, the glossy stems, perhaps six inches thick at the base, springing up at first ...
... resembling the light and airy plumes of the birdofparadise copied on a gigantic scale in living foliage. Such clumps are often eighty or a hundred feet high, the glossy stems, perhaps six inches thick at the base, springing up at first ...
Contents
ANIMAL LIFE IN THE TROPICAL FORESTS | |
THE COLOURS OF ANIMALS AND SEXUAL SELECTION | |
THE COLOURS OF PLANTS AND THE ORIGIN OF | |
THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS AS INDICATING | |
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Common terms and phrases
abundant adapted Africa allied Amazon animals ants Asia attract bamboo Batavia beautiful become birds blue brilliant butterflies carnivora causes changes characteristic climate colour Colours of Animals comparatively conspicuous continent curious Danaidæ Darwin distinct distribution earth Eocene equator equatorial zone existence extensive fact families fauna favourable feet female ferns fertilization flowers foliage foresttrees fruits genera genus greater green groups habits heat hummingbirds hyænas immense inhabit insects islands Juan Fernandez land larger larvæ leaves lemurs less light Madagascar Malay Malay Archipelago male mammalia marsupials Miocene monkeys natural selection North northern observed occur oceanic ornaments Palæarctic parrots peculiar perhaps phenomena plants Pliocene plumage probably produced proportion protection rays region remarkable resemble sexual selection showy sometimes South America species spots structure sunbirds surface tail temperate zones temperature theory tints trees tropical trunks Ungulata variation varied variety vegetation whole wings yellow