WCP1785

[1]

Waldron Edge, Duppas Hill, Croydon

Jan[uar]^y 2nd. 1880

My Dear Sir¹,

Thanks for your note about Bermuda.

Land-shells and plants are it is true at opposite poles as regards means of dispersal, but nevertheless there is always, so far as I know, a certain proportion between the amounts of peculiarity in each; & I know of no island in the globe which has one fifth ^or one fourth of its land shells peculiar (as Bermuda has) and has not also a fair proportion of endemic plants. The very slow [2] dispersal of land-shells implies a certain amount of contiguity, & in Bermuda this is rendered more certain by the presence of a few such fossil shells distinct (or varieties at least) from those living. The peculiar ferns therefore are quite which I should expect, and also a few peculiar phenerograms. The islands are so remote from land that, were it not for the exceptionally powerful actions of winds, currents, & birds, there [one word illegible] to[sic] many.

Believe me. | Yours| faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Prof[essor] Oliver