CHARLESDARWINTOJ。D。HOOKER。
March7[1855]……IhavejustfinishedworkingwellatWollaston’s（ThomasVernonWollastondied（inhisfifty—seventhyear，asIbelieve）onJanuary4，1878。Hishealthforcinghiminearlymanhoodtowinterinthesouth，hedevotedhimselftoastudyoftheColeopteraofMadeira，theCapedeVerdes，andSt。Helena，whencehededucedevidenceinsupportofthebeliefinthesubmergedcontinentof’Atlantis。’InanobituarynoticebyMr。Rye（’Nature，’1878）heisdescribedasworkingpersistently\"uponabroadconceptionofthesciencetowhichhewasdevoted，\"whilebeingatthesametime\"accurate，elaborate，andpreciseadpunctum，andnaturallyofaminutelycriticalhabit。\"HisfirstscientificpaperwaswrittenwhenhewasanundergraduateatJesusCollege，Cambridge。WhileattheUniversity，hewasanAssociateandafterwardsaMemberoftheRayClub:thisisasmallsocietywhichstillmeetsonceaweek，andwheretheundergraduatemembers，orAssociates，receivemuchkindlyencouragementfromtheirelders。）’InsectaMaderensia’:itisanADMIRABLEwork。ThereisaverycuriouspointintheastoundingproportionofColeopterathatareapterous;
andIthinkIhaveguessedthereason，viz。，thatpowersofflightwouldbeinjurioustoinsectsinhabitingaconfinedlocality，andexposethemtobeblowntothesea:totestthis，IfindthattheinsectsinhabitingtheDezerteGrande，aquitesmallislet，wouldbestillmoreexposedtothisdanger，andheretheproportionofapterousinsectsisevenconsiderablygreaterthanonMadeiraProper。WollastonspeaksofMadeiraandtheotherArchipelagoesasbeing\"sureandcertainwitnessesofForbes’oldcontinent，\"andofcoursetheEntomologicalworldimplicitlyfollowsthisview。Buttomyeyesitwouldbedifficulttoimaginefactsmoreopposedtosuchaview。Itisreallydisgustingandhumiliatingtoseedirectlyoppositeconclusionsdrawnfromthesamefacts。
IhavehadsomecorrespondencewithWollastononthisandothersubjects，andIfindthathecoollyassumes，（1）thatformerlyinsectspossessedgreatermigratorypowersthannow，（2）thattheoldlandwasSPECIALLYrichincentresofcreation，（3）thattheunitinglandwasdestroyedbeforethespecialcreationshadtimetodiffuse，and（4）thatthelandwasbrokendownbeforecertainfamiliesandgenerahadtimetoreachfromEuropeorAfricathepointsoflandinquestion。Arenottheseajollylotofassumptions？andyetIshallseeforthenextdozenorscoreofyearsWollastonquotedasprovingtheformerexistenceofpoorForbes’Atlantis。
IhopeIhavenotweariedyou，butIthoughtyouwouldliketohearaboutthisbook，whichstrikesmeasEXCELLENTinitsfacts，andtheauthoramostniceandmodestman。