Yet it cannot be said that small
islands will not support at least small mammals, for they occur in many
parts of the world on very small islands, when lying close to a continent;
and hardly an island can be named on which our smaller quadrupeds have not
become naturalised and greatly multiplied. It cannot be said, on the
ordinary view of creation, that there has not been time for the creation of
mammals; many volcanic islands are sufficiently ancient, as shown by the
stupendous degradation which they have suffered, and by their tertiary
strata: there has also been time for the production of endemic species
belonging to other classes; and on continents it is known that new species
of mammals appear and disappear at a quicker rate than other and lower
animals. Although terrestrial mammals do not occur on oceanic islands,
aerial mammals do occur on almost every island. New Zealand possesses two
bats found nowhere else in the world: Norfolk Island, the Viti
Archipelago, the Bonin Islands, the Caroline and Marianne Archipelagoes,
and Mauritius, all possess their peculiar bats. Why, it may be asked, has
the supposed creative force produced bats and no other mammals on remote
islands? On my view this question can easily be answered; for no
terrestrial mammal can be transported across a wide space of sea, but bats
can fly across. Bats have been seen wandering by day far over the Atlantic
Ocean; and two North American species, either regularly or occasionally,
visit Bermuda, at the distance of 600 miles from the mainland.
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