Ch. XIV.] LOWERING OF THE SEA-LEVEL. 267 



period the land stood much, higher above the sea than 

 it now does. Professor Hartt believes that during the 

 time of the drift, Brazil stood at a much higher level 

 than at present, and we can, on the supposition of a 

 general lowering of the sea all over the world, account 

 for the distribution of animal life over islands now sepa- 

 rated by shallow seas. Thus Mr. Bland, in a paper read 

 before the American Philosophical Society, on " The 

 Geology and Physical Geography of the West Indies, 

 with reference to the distribution of Mollusca,"* states 

 his opinion that Porto Rico, the Virgins, the Anguilla 

 group, Cuba, the Bahamas, and Hayti, once formed con- 

 tinuous dry land that obtained its land molluscs from 

 Central America and Mexico. The land molluscs of the 

 islands to the south, on the contrary, from Barbuda and 

 St. Kitt's down to Trinidad, is of two types, one Vene- 

 zuelan, the other Guianian ; the western side of the 

 supposed continuous land, namely, Trinidad, Tobago, 

 Grenada, the Grenadines, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia, 

 belonging to the first type ; the eastern side, from Bar- 

 bados to Antigua, to the second. 



Commenting on Mr. Bland' s valuable communication, 

 Mr. Kings! ey justly says : "If this be so, a glance at the 

 map will show the vast destruction of tropic land during 

 almost the very latest geological epoch ; and show, too, 

 how little, in the present imperfect state of our knowledge, 

 we ought to dare any speculations as to the absence of 

 man, as well as of other creatures, on those great lands 

 destroyed. For, to supply the dry land which Mr. 

 Bland's theory needs, we shall have to conceive a junc- 



* Quoted in "At Last," by Charles Kingsley, p. 305. " Geology 

 and Physical Geography of Brazil," by Ch. Fred. Hartt, p. 573. 



