822 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



preliminary descriptions, must have stood near the source from 

 which both ungulates and rodents have taken their origin. 



Very many interesting Edentata and rodents have been met 

 with in the same beds, but it is the marsupial group which sur- 

 passes all others in interest. One carnivorous animal of this 

 group (ProthyJ acinus) is almost identical with the now existing 

 pouched wolf (Thylacine) of Tasmania; while another fossil 

 genus (Protoproviverra) is quite akin to the most characteristic 

 carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian Devil. Although F. Ame- 

 ghino's descriptions are not yet complete, the best authorities on 

 this subject in this country and Germany do not hesitate to rec- 

 ognize a purely Australian type in these South American forms, 

 which, on the other side, can safely be connected with the group 

 of primitive carnivors (Hycenodon, Pterodon, etc.) which appeared 

 at a later epoch in Europe. Moreover, the same beds contain fos- 

 sil remains of primates (Homunculus, Anthropops, Homocentrus, 

 Eudiastatus) which seem to represent ancestors of all the subse- 

 quent apes, but stand also in connection with the lemurs, and also 

 with the ungulates, or, rather, with their Toxodon ancestors. They 

 seem to represent the most ancient primates known, and indicate 

 that the first representatives of the whole group must be sought 

 for as far back as the end of the Secondary period. Finally, we 

 must mention the discovery of remains of man which are consid- 

 ered by F. Ameghino as belonging to the Pliocene and Miocene 

 ages.* 



The " missing links " are coming, as we see, in such abundance 

 that it will take several years before anatomists, in whose hands 

 this rich material will now be put, have disentangled the numer- 

 ous and striking affinities between so many different types which 

 we have briefly enumerated. But geologists will also have a 

 word to say about these discoveries, which raise again the very 

 great question as to the long-since noticed affinities between the 

 faunas of all southern continents and the presumed previous con- 

 nection between those continents. Apart from all other consid- 

 erations, the resemblance between the fossil marsupials of South 

 America and the marsupials now living in Australia is so great 

 that it is not possible to admit that forms so near to each other 

 (and both so abnormal) might have developed independently 

 upon two remote continents. It seems almost unavoidable to 

 admit that some direct land connection has existed between 

 South America and Australia, although all we know about the 



* The Revista Argentina contains in its issue for December last a full description of 

 the primates discovered by Carl Ameghino in south Patagonia. The connections which 

 these fossils indicate between man, primates, ungulates, and rodents are of the highest 

 interest. 



