332 
ORIGIN OF LIFE IN AMERICA 
trend the isthmus of Panama runs in an east-westward direc¬ 
tion. 
That this Pacific land persisted to some extent until com¬ 
paratively recent geological times, seems to be indicated by 
several notable features. When Mr. Agassiz surveyed the 
ocean floor from the steamer “ Albatross,” he found the Pacific 
side of Panama faunistically poor compared with the Atlantic 
side, but he attributed that condition to the absence of a great 
oceanic current on the south side of the isthmus. The absence 
of deep-sea corals on the Pacific side was most striking. Yet, 
he remarks that there is on the west coast of Central America, 
even in deep water, a considerable fauna, which finds its 
parallel in the West Indies and recalls later Cretaceous times 
when the Caribbean Sea was practically a bay of the Pacific. 
This assumption that the Caribbean Sea was once a bay of 
the Pacific has been put forward by other writers. The 
faunistic resemblance, or parallelism, as we might call it, 
between the seas on each side of Central America may be due 
to a former westward extension of the Atlantic Ocean just 
as much as to an eastward extension of the Pacific. However, 
one of the most remarkable features brought to light by the 
“ Albatross ” expedition was the condition of the ocean 
floor. There was not a station between Acapulco, on the 
coast of Mexico, and the Galapagos islands, according to 
Mr. Agassiz, of which the bottom could be characterised as 
strictly oceanic. At the most distant points from the 
shore the bottom specimens invariably showed some trace of 
admixture of terrigenous material. All the way, even to a 
depth of 2,000 fathoms, the trawl became filled with a sticky 
mud containing logs of wood, branches, twigs and decayed 
vegetable matter. Being a firm believer in the permanence 
of ocean basins, Mr. Agassiz * naturally attributed this extra¬ 
ordinary condition of the sea floor to the existence of currents, 
which, striking Central America from north and south, are 
reflected in a westward direction. He likewise argues from 
this discovery that it offers a very practical object lesson re¬ 
garding the manner in which the Galapagos islands received 
their fauna and flora. The peculiar condition of the ocean 
Agassiz, A., “ Reports on ‘Albatross’ Expedition,” pp. 11 — 77. 
