Flora Of The Galapagos Islands Classic Reprint PDF Download

Excerpt from The Galapagos Tortoises A warm interest of the Museum authorities in the Giant land tortoises has led to the acquisition of so many notable specimens, through liberal exchanges and purchases, as to demand a revision of portions of the collection, especially of that portion directly pertaining to the Galapagos Archipelago. This forms the reason for the following article. It is based mainly on partial specimens, 15. E., carapaces and sternums, but it is thus that these tortoises are most generally known, thus that they are most widely, and most commonly represented in descriptions, figures, and collections. A few attempts have been made at complete characterization of the species by including the anatomical features; these were founded on single specimens, and the individuals of the species are found to differ too much to admit of accurate distinctions unless confirmed by averages secured from repeated dissections, for which much of the material and the labor has yet to be supplied. The Galapagos Islands form an isolated group in the eastern Pacific on the equator about 6° west of Ecuador, or in other words, they are Situated between 89° and 92° of west longitude and between 1° 30' south and 2° north latitude. The largest of them is about eighty miles long and at its widest is about fifty miles wide; from this the sizes vary to some that are mere points of rock or shoals. They are separated from the mainland by more than four hundred miles of deep sea, a thousand fathoms or more in depth. The Wide separation from the continent, their considerable distances from one another, with great differences in altitudes and consequent variations in climate and fertility give them exceptional attractions in the eyes of naturalists. Here if anywhere they might hope to find the species of the flora and fauna distinct from those of the world around them and here it might be possible to trace their development and derivation. Questions of origin go back to the advent of the islands themselves; neither in case of lands, plants, nor animals have the questions been answered with any great degrees of satisfaction. Some authorities have decided that the islands are oceanic, that they never were connected with the continent, but were pushed up from the sea-bottom by the numerous volcanoes they contain. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.