ELEVATION OF WEST INDIAN AREA 
287 
Bahamas, by land. How far eastward this land extended 
cannot be determined from the mammals, but it certainly 
must have reached beyond the Virgin islands to Anguilla, one 
of the most northerly islands of the Lesser Antilles. Many 
islands of the Lesser Antilles may have been completely 
submerged at that time. Later on Cuba, the Bahamas and 
Jamaica were connected with the mainland, after the other 
islands had already been separated from the Antillean land- 
mass, and lastly, Cuba and Jamaica were independently joined 
to Central America before the existing physical features were 
brought about. 
Many more details are required before we can construct 
an approximate history of the geological events which led to 
the present conditions of the fauna and flora of the Antilles. 
In his chapter on the evolution of middle America Dr. 
Gadow * deals with the problem from the aspect of the 
reptilian and amphibian fauna. He does not attempt to recon¬ 
struct the geological history from a study of this fauna alone. 
His maps are derived and abstracted from the opinions ex¬ 
pressed by various geological authorities. They are in so far 
of importance, as he thinks, that the general conclusions 
based on a geological study appear to fit those founded on 
faunistic considerations. Several striking points may be 
gathered at a glance from his maps. At no time since the 
Cretaceous Period were the Antilles directly connected with 
the main continent of North America. Only in Miocene times 
was “ Antillea” (the term used for the united Antilles) joined 
to southern Florida, the latter being then disconnected from 
North America. Antillea had only one continental connec¬ 
tion, namely, during the Miocene Period by means of Central 
America. It follows, therefore, that Antillea never was directly 
joined either to North or South America, at least not since 
Cretaceous times. If Dr. Gadow’s maps are correct, the whole 
of the Antillean fauna and flora, in so far as they are derived 
from migration on land, should be of Miocene age or older. 
Dr. Gadow’s conclusions would have been of greater value had 
he trusted more to the evidence based on geographical dis¬ 
tribution and less on that of geology. As pointed out by 
* Gadow, II., “Mexican Amphibians and Reptiles,” pp. 234—237. 
