Of the care and labour which the author of this work has bestowed upon it, no one here, I venture to think, has a better right to speak than myself, because it is not very long ago that I attempted a dissertation on the Geographical Distribution of a single Class of animals*. Though it was the Class with which I am most familiar, and though in my attempt I had the invaluable assistance of Mr. Wallace's manuscript at my side, which cleared my way through many obstacles, still I found the task one of enormous difficulty, and one which I at times almost repented that I had undertaken; yet Mr. Wallace has treated not of Birds only, as I did, but of Mammals, Amphibians, Reptiles, and Freshwater Fishesto say nothing of the most telling Families of two orders of Insects, with the Mollusks so far as they were available for his purpose. There is nothing that in turning over the pages of these volumes so much strikes one as the energy they evince on the part of their author. Those who have been most accustomed to the literature of zoology must admit that there is scarcely any book with which 'The Geographical Distribution of Animals' may not, in respect of hard and honest work, be advantageously compared. It deserves to bear good fruit; and I am greatly mistaken if it will not do so. From an educational point of view, it can hardly fail to be of the greatest service. Attractive as is the subject to those that know it and see its bearings, the learner has hitherto been repelled from its consideration by the want of any work of general compass which would guide his studies, while even few of those treatises which have a particular scope were of much use to him. Mr. Wallace has now placed one in his hands; and the result we need not try to anticipate. One thing, however, is clear-the Distribution of Animals can no longer be neglected as a secondary or unimportant part of Zoology. It only remains for me to add, while thus attempting to set forth the general merits of this learned work, that I by no means pin my faith to all the author's details, or to all his conclusions. Most of the latter may indeed be justified by the present imperfect state of our knowledge; but it does not follow that they will eventually meet with common acceptance. I must particularly call your attention to the admirably cautious words in which he takes leave of his readers-words that prove him to be thoroughly imbued with the right spirit of a true worker in a progressive branch of study. Mr. Wallace says: "The preceding remarks are all I now venture to offer, on the distinguishing features of the various groups of land-animals as regards their distribution and migrations. They are at best but indications of the various lines of research opened up to us by the study of animals from the geographical point of view, and by looking upon their range in space and time as an important portion of the earth's history. Till every well-marked district,-every archipelago, and every important island, has all its known species of the more important groups of animals catalogued on a uniform plan, and with a uniform nomenclature, a thoroughly satisfactory account of the Geographical Distribution of Animals will not be possible." And then he goes on to point out that more than this is wanted: "Many of the most curious relations between animal forms and their habitats, are entirely unnoticed, owing to the productions of the same locality never being associated in our museums and collections. A few such relations have been brought to light by modern scientific travellers; but many more remain to be discovered, and there is probably no fresher and more productive field still unexplored in Natural History." These coincident variations, he concludes by saying, "have never been systematically investigated. They constitute an unworked mine of wealth for the enterprising explorer; and they may not improbably lead to the discovery of some of the hidden laws (supplementary to Natural Selection), which seem to be required in order to account for many of the external characteristics of animals” (vol. ii. pp. 552, 553). And now to follow out the idea with which I began. Having touched on the "Geographical Distribution of Birds," Encyclopædia Britannica, Ed. 9, vol. iii. pp. 736-764. two chief zoological events of the year, let us see if they do not suggest something that will not be beneath your consideration for the remainder of this address. I have spoken of the certainty of the expedition from which we now welcome our friends being succeeded by others of similar character. We shall hardly be indulging any vain imagination if we ask ourselves what we may look forward to as regards their reports; and to one point we may perhaps usefully apply ourselves. What if a future' Challenger' shall report of some island, now known to possess a rich and varied animal population, that its present fauna has disappeared? that its only Mammals were feral Pigs, Goats, Rats, and Rabbits-with an infusion of Ferrets, introduced by a zealous acclimatizer" to check the superabundance of the rodents last named, but contenting themselves with the colonists' chickens? that Sparrows and Starlings, brought from Europe, were its only Land-birds, that the former had propagated to such an extent that the cultivation of cereals had ceased to pay-the prohibition of bird-keeping boys by the local school-board contributing to the same effect-and that the latter (the Starlings) having put an end to the indigenous insectivorous birds by consuming their food, had turned their attention to the settlers' orchards, so that a crop of fruit was only to be looked for about once in five years-when the great periodical cyclones had reduced the number of the depredators? that the Goats had destroyed one half of the original flora and the Rabbits the rest? that the Pigs devastated the potatoe-gardens and yam-grounds? This is no fanciful picture. I pretend not to the gift of prophecy; that is a faculty alien to the scientific mind'; but if we may reason from the known to the unknown, from what has been and from what is to what will be, I cannot entertain a doubt that these things are coming to pass; for I am sure there are places where what is very like them has already happened. You may ask why this is so? why do these lands so speedily succumb to the strangers from beyond sea? One part of the answer is ready to hand with those who have learned one of the first principles of biology which our great master, Mr. Darwin, has laid down for us. The weaker, the more generalized forms of life must always make way for the stronger and more specialized. The other part of the answer is supplied by Mr. Wallace; for no one can have studied his volumes to much purpose without perceiving that the inhabitants of oceanic islands and of the southern hemisphere-the great Australian Region especially, and South America not much less, are the direct and comparatively speaking little-changed descendants of an older, a more generalized and a weaker fauna than are the present inhabitants of this quarter of the globe, which have been, so to speak, elaborated by Nature and turned out as the latest and most perfect samples of her handiwork. Set face to face with unlooked-for invaders, and forced into a contest with them from which there is no retreat, it is not in the least surprising that the natives should succumb. They have hitherto only had to struggle for existence with creatures of a like organization; and the issue of the conflict which has been going on for ages is that, adapted to the conditions under which they find themselves, they maintain their footing on grounds of equality among one another, and so for centuries they may have kept the noiseless tenor of their way." Suddenly man interferes and lets loose upon them an entirely new race of animals, which act and react in a thousand different fashions on their circumstances. It is not necessary that the new comers should be predacious; they may be so far void of offence as to abstain from assaulting the aboriginal population; but they occupy the same haunts and consume the same food. The fruits, the herbage, and other supplies that sufficed to support the ancient fauna now have to furnish forage for the invaders as well. Their effects on the flora there is no need for me to trace, since Dr. Hooker expressly made them one of the themes of that discourse to which many of us listened with rapt attention a few years since at this Association. But the consequences of the invasion to the native fauna have never been so fully made known. The new comers are creatures whose organization has been prepared by and for combat throughout generations innumerable. Their ancestors have been elevated in the scale of being by the discipline of strife. Their descendants inherit the developed qualities that enabled those ancestors to win a hard-fought existence when the animals around them were no higher in grade than those among which the de Mala scendants are now thrown. Can we doubt that the victory inclines to the heirs of the ancient conquerors? The struggle is like one between an army of veterans and a population unused to warfare. It is that of Spaniards with matchlocks and coats of mail against Aztecs with feather cloaks and bows and arrows. salus victis. A few years, and the majority of native species are exterminated. But this is not the worst. The species which perish most quickly are just those that naturalists would most wish to preserve; for they are those peculiar and endemic forms that in structure and constitution represent the ancient state of things upon the earth, and supply us with some of the most instructive evidence as to the Order of Nature. With the progress of civilization it is plain that there will soon be hardly a land but will bear the standard of a European nation or of a community of European descent, and, as things are going on, be overrun by their imports. If this were inevitable it would be useless to complain. But is it inevitable? Is it not obvious that most of this extermination is being carried on unwittingly? and may not some of it be avoided by proper precautions? If so, should not men of science make a stand, and interest the ignorant or careless in the importance of the subject? I cannot divest myself of the belief that the course of the next century will see the extirpation, not only of most of the peculiar faunas I had in view a few minutes ago, but of a great multitude of other species of animals throughout all parts of the world. The regret with which I regard such extirpation is not merely a matter of sentiment. Here sentiment and science are for once on the same side. A heavy blow will be inflicted on Zoology by the disappearance of some of these marvellous and peculiar forms. There is no one species of animal whose structure and habits have been so completely investigated that absence of the means of further examination would not be a distinct deprivation to Science; and as what Science has done is only an earnest of what she will do, we cannot say that the time shall ever come when the want of those means will not be severely felt. It is then for scientific men, and for naturalists especially, to consider whether they are not bound, in the interest of their successors, to interpose more than they have hitherto given any sign of doing. But outside this audience there are many who care little for consequences like these. Such persons may, however, be impressed by thinking that the indiscriminate destruction of animals which, in one way or another, is now going on, must sooner or later lead to the extirpation of many of those which minister to our wants, whether of comfort or luxury. The fur-bearing creatures will speedily, if they do not already, require some protection to be generally accorded to them; and that such protection can be effectually given is evident if we take the trouble of inquiring as to the steps taken by the Russian local authorities in Alaska, and now, I believe, continued by those of the United States, for limiting the slaughter of the Sea-Otter and the Fur-Seals of the adjacent islands to particular seasons. No one can suppose that, even with the assistance we get from Siberia, our supply of ivory will continue what it now is when the interior of Africa is pacified and settled, as we can hardly doubt that it one day will be; and, unless we can find some substitute for that useful substance before that day comes, it would be only prudent to do something to check the wasteful destruction of Elephants. Many people may think that the continent of Africa is too vast and its animal life too luxuriant for the efforts of man materially to affect it. If we inquire, however, we shall find that this is not the case, and that there is an enormous tract of country, extending far beyond our colonies and the territories of the neighbouring Republics, from which most of the larger Mammals have already disappeared. There is good reason to believe that at least one species has become extinct within the last fiveand-twenty years or thereabouts; and though I do not mean to say that this species, the true Zebra, had any economic value, yet its fate is an indication of what will befall its fellows; while to the Zoologist its extirpation is a matter of moment, being probably the first case of the total extinction of a large terrestrial mammal since the remote days when the Megaceros hibernicus disappeared. Time would fail me if I attempted to go into particulars with regard to the marine Mammalia. It is notorious that various members of the Orders Sirenia, Cetacea, and Pinnipedia have recently dwindled in numbers or altogether vanished from the earth. The Manatee and Dugong have been recklessly killed off from hundreds of localities where but a century or so since they abounded; and with them the stores of valuable oil that they furnished have been lost. That very remarkable Sirenian the huge Rhytina gigas has become utterly extinct. The greed of whalers is believed to have had the same effect on a Cetacean (the Balana biscayensis) which was once the cause of a flourishing industry on the coasts of France and Spain. The same greed has almost exterminated the Right Whale of the northern seas, and is fast accomplishing the same end in the case of Seals all over the world. You are probably aware that an Act of Parliament, passed in the session of 1875, was intended to put some check upon those bloody massacres that annually take place on the floating ice of the North Atlantic, to which these creatures resort at the time of bringing forth their young, when "Sires, mothers, children in one carnage lie." But, whether through official indifference, or what, I know not, the treaties with foreign nations authorized by that Act were not completed; and last spring, at the solicitation of certain Aberdeen or Peterhead shipowners, the Board of Trade allowed " one year more" of wholesale slaughter. Whatever other nations might like to do, our hands at least should have been unstained! It is admitted that in certain manufactures-that of jute, for instance-animal oil is absolutely necessary. It is easy to see that before long there will be very little animal oil forthcoming. There is another Class of animals with whose well-being the interests of man are largely connected. It cannot be denied that our Fisheries are year by year subjected to an ever-increasing strain, through the rapidly increasing population of these islands, and are giving unmistakable signs of being unable to bear it. But it must be admitted that the consideration of their case is fraught with unusual difficulties. Commissions, either Royal or Parliamentary, have been appointed one after another to inquire into the facts and to seek a remedy, if one is to be found, for the falling-off. It is with great diffidence that I venture to pass any criticism on the recommendations made by those Commissions, and especially on such as were contained in the Report of a Commission the constitution of which was such as to inspire the greatest respect, since men so eminent as Prof. Huxley and Mr. Holdsworth were named in it. That Commission reported in effect that there was nothing to be done with our Sea-Fisheries but to leave things alone. I do not profess to quote the words of the Report (which, indeed, I have not seen for a long time); but in substance, I believe, it amounted to this:-That the natural enemies to which Fishes were exposed were so multitudinous, so crafty, and so rapacious, that their destruction by man was very slight in comparison, and that his interference might be safely neglected in considering its consequences. Now it has always seemed to me that the Commissioners on this occasion suffered themselves to be deceived. Well aware of how little is known as to the indirect effects of man's acts in regard to the lower animals, and in their fear lest any unforseen bad results should follow from measures intended to be remedial, they recommended none at all. But I fail to discern that land or sea makes any essential difference in the laws of life. The balance of Nature must be preserved as steadily in a dense as in a rare fluid-in water as in air-or all will not go well. Whatever be the weight in either scale, equipoise is as easily destroyed by an ounce as by a ton. The marine Fishes that are of such commercial importance (Cod, Herrings, and the like) have naturally, no doubt, enemies innumerable-Dogfish, Cormorants, Porpoises, and what not; but we know that, owing to their fertility and habits, the Cod and Herrings have continued till lately to contend successfully with these drawbacks and to maintain their numbers. It matters not if only one egg of the 10,000, or whatever be the number in the roe of a Herring, produces a fish that arrives at maturity and escapes its natural enemies, so long as that one fish is sufficient to supply the place of its parent. Now this, according to the arrangement of Nature, has hitherto been the case. But if, instead of that fish living to propagate its kind, it is cut off before its time by an enemy against whom Nature has made no provision, her balance is at once destroyed; and the oftener the operation is repeated the sooner will the numbers of the species dwindle; and the dwindling will go on in a rapidly accelerated ratio. Therefore it seems that, so far from leaving our Sea-Fisheries unrestricted, it is highly necessary to impose some limitation upon them; and, so far from dreading interference, our interference is at present so fatal that further interference of another kind is required as a counterbalance; while that counterbalance Science only can apply. As much may be said for those other industries, in common speech also called "fisheries"-the taking of Oysters, Crabs, and Lobsters, all of which have lately been diminishing in a still more alarming degree. Here Parliament has wisely resolved to interpose, though whether the manner of interposition is wise seems to be a matter on which, as few naturalists have been consulted, we had better reserve our opinion. Thus, without troubling you with many technical details, I have striven to lay before you a sketch of man's treatment of some of his fellow-creatures, and of the effects which have sprung, or certainly will spring, from it. There is probably hardly an island on which he has set foot, the fauna and flora of which has not been in some degree influenced by his even temporary presence; there is assuredly not a continent, though a continent takes longer to subdue: and his control does not stop at the shore; for, if what I have been advancing is true, the inhabitants of the deep come also more or less under his dominion. I invite you to contemplate whether it is always, or even generally, that of a beneficent ruler. But it will doubtless be urged that this kind of thing has gone on for ages-ever since life first existed on the earth. I may be told, in the words of the great poet of the country in which we now find ourselves, Why then ask of silly man, * To oppose great Nature's plan ?" I would answer from the same source that man, to whom alone is giv'n A ray direct from pitying Heav'n," should by means of that ray not oppose Nature, but rather second her preservative measures. That ray is the ray of Science. We can only govern Nature by obeying her, only by obeying her can we assist her. To obey her laws we must know them; what can we know of them but what Science teaches us? It may be said that I have taken too gloomy a view of this matter of the extirpation of animals by man. I wish I could think so. But I believe that if we go to work in the right way there is yet time to save many an otherwise expiring species. In this country there is happily a strong disposition, which grows stronger day by day, to preserve our wild animals. It is very desirable that this feeling should not be limited to the British Islands. If it is, as I maintain, a right feeling-a feeling sanctioned alike by humanity, by Science, and by our own material interestsit cannot be too widely disseminated. But its propagation must not be left to humanitarians and sentimentalists, whose efforts are sure to be brought to nothing through ignorance and excess of zeal, nor to economists, whose endeavours would unquestionably fall short of what is required. The officiousness of the one class and the slackness of the other must equally be tempered by the naturalist. He can be trusted not to interfere with the use, but with the abuse, of the animal world. Only to do this he must place himself in the forefront of the movement; for he can submit to no other leader. He alone has, or should have, that knowledge which gives the power of coping successfully with the difficult questions that will arise; and the advantage it gives him he must not abstain from exercising. If, without offence, I might here paraphrase some venerable words, I would say that, according to the greatness of this power, we must preserve those that are otherwise appointed to die. 1876. 133 |