A Trip to Mar del Plata 207 



has been controverted, and while the existence of such 

 a land connection might account for certain facts in 

 the distribution of animals, and more particularly of the 

 fishes of the two continents, the writer is very skeptical, 

 and is more inclined to believe that the occurrence of 

 related genera and species in Africa and South America 

 will prove ultimately to have arisen through the land 

 connection effected by union with the Antarctic con- 

 tinent, of w^hich mention has been made. 



Sir Richard Owen was one of the first to name and 

 describe some of the more striking fossil mammals the 

 remains of which have been recovered in the Pampean 

 beds. The material obtained by Darwin on his famous 

 voyage in H. M. S. Beagle was submitted to Owen 

 for study. Since that time a multitude of very able 

 men have devoted a great deal of time to a careful 

 examination of the fossil fauna of South America, and 

 thus our knowledge has been greatly enlarged. Dr. 

 Burmeister, who was the Director of the Museum in 

 Buenos Aires for many years, accomplished much. A 

 number of years ago Senor Florentine Ameghino, and 

 his brother, Carlos Ameghino, began diligently to collect 

 fossil remains which they encountered in various parts 

 of Argentina, and more particularly in Patagonia. 

 Florentine Ameghino began to describe them, and sub- 

 sequently gave to the world descriptions of an enormous 

 number of new genera and species, attributing to the 

 strata in which they were found various geological 

 ages, in such a manner as to provoke the astonishment 

 of students in other parts of the world. Princeton 

 University was enabled through the generosity of 

 certain friends to send several expeditions to South 

 America. Two of these were conducted by Mr. John 

 Bell Hatcher. Other expeditions by other institutions 



