WCP1785

[1]

Waldron Edge, Duppas Hill,

Croydon.

Jan^y. 2nd. 1880

My Dear Sir¹

Thanks for your note² 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 amount 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 antiquity, & in Bermuda this is rendered more certain by the presentce of a few sub-fossil shells distinct (as 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 ought to many.

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

Prof. Oliver