Naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace died in November 1913. James Le Fanu looks at his legacy and its impact on evolutionary theory.
When invited to contribute to a conference on evolution held, appropriately enough, in the Galapagos Islands, I seized the opportunity to fulfil a long-held ambition to swim with turtles.
The setting was magical — a white beach littered with sea lions nursing their young, on the nearby rocks battalions of dragon-like marine iguanas basked in the early morning sunshine, a pair of magnificent frigate birds soared aloft like piratical pterodactyls, while tiny bright yellow warblers flitted through the undergrowth. Then plunging into the sea, there they were — two large turtles gliding effortlessly through the water seemingly indifferent to my presence. It was as though I had strayed into some other strange, timeless and dreamlike world.
