"Nobody, I Dare Say, Has Collected More Animals Than I Have Done In The
Southern Hemisphere.
I have observed and described them in their own
habitat.
I have brought several thousands of kinds to Europe; they are
deposited in the Natural History Museum at Paris. Let any one compare
these numerous animals with those of our hemisphere, and the problem will
soon be resolved, not only in regard to the more perfectly organised
species, but even as to those which are simpler in structure, and which,
in that regard, it would appear, should show less variety in nature...In
all that multitude of animals from the southern hemisphere, one will
observe that there is not one which can be precisely matched in northern
seas; and one will be forced to conclude from such a reflective
examination - such an elaborate and prolonged comparison - as I have been
forced to do myself, THAT THERE IS NOT A SINGLE SPECIES OF WELL-KNOWN
ANIMALS WHICH, TRULY COSMOPOLITE, IS INDISTINGUISHABLY COMMON TO ALL
PARTS OF THE GLOBE.
"More than that - and it is in this respect above all that the
inexhaustible variety of nature shines forth - however imperfect each of
these animals may be, each has received its own distinct features. It is
to certain localities that they are fixed; it is there that they are
found to be most numerous, largest in size and most beautiful; and to the
extent that they are found most distant from the appropriate place, the
individuals degenerate and the species becomes gradually extinguished."
On the geographical side the series of causes described in preceding
pages prevented the achievement of that measure of success which the
French Government and the Institute had a right to expect.
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