He restored Messana, peopling it with motley settlers, among whom were some of the old Messenians from Peloponnesus.
Many of the great historic movements of peoples were doubtless due to the gradual change of geographical or climatic conditions; and the slow desiccation of Central Asia has been plausibly suggested as the real cause of the peopling of modern Europe and of the medieval wars of the Old World, the theatres of which were critical points on the great natural lines of communication between east and west.
Their primary object being the development and peopling of the land, they have naturally been made as cheaply as possible; and as in such cases the cost of the land is inconsiderable, economy has been sought by the use of lighter and rougher permanent way, plant, rolling stock, &c. Such railways are not " light " in the technical sense of having been made under enactments intended to secure permanent lowness of cost as compared with standard lines.
Although the species are fewer in number than in most other families of fishes, they are widely spread and extremely abundant, peopling by countless schools the oceans of the tropical and temperate zones, and approaching the coasts only accidentally, occasionally, or periodically.
Successive discoveries have revealed certain grand centres, such as (1) the marsupial radiation of Australia, (2) the littleknown Cretaceous radiation of placental mammals in the northern hemisphere, which was probably connected in part with the peopling of South America, (3) the Tertiary placental radiation in the northern hemisphere, partly connected with Africa, (4) the main Tertiary radiation in South America.