CONTINENTAL DISPLACEMENT — SCHUCHERT 257 



mian. This shows that in northorn North America there was re- 

 gression during all of Carboniferous time, which is again just the 

 reverse of the facts, for there were great transgressions during the 

 Lower Carboniferous and Coal Measures, with marked regression 

 during the Permian. In South America the map shows marked 

 transgressions, but the facts are that here there were almost no seas 

 in Lower Carboniferous time, marked ones in the Coal Measures, and 

 small ones in the Permian. 



The writer has elsewhere asked, " Of Avhat use are paleogeographic 

 maps that 'lump' together such vast amounts of geologic time?" 

 They can prove nothing and certainly not polar wandering, for we 

 know that North America had one very slowly progressing trans- 

 gression during the Devonian, at least two more or less complete 

 ones in Lower Carboniferous time, two in the Coal Measures, and 

 one grand regression in the late Pennsylvanian and early Permian. 

 No paleogeographic map is worth the paper on which it is printed 

 unless it depicts the actual state of affairs for a limited geologic time, 

 say several hundred thousand years, and not as Wegener does here, 

 a number of transgressions and regressions that took place during 

 160,000,000 years. What Wegener should have done was to make 

 at least 12 maps, and 9 for " Carboniferous time " (3 for each of 

 its three periods), and then from these deduce his curves for each 

 hemisphere. 



SIMILARITIES ON THE TWO SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN 



It can be truthfully said that AVegener's hypothesis has its greatest 

 support in the well-known geologic similarities on the two sides of 

 the Atlantic, as shown in strikes and times of mountain making, 

 in formational and faunal sequences, and in petrography (fig. 1). 

 The main tectonic and faunal "connections" upon which he bases 

 his theory are: (1) Between the Sierras of Argentina and the Cape 

 Mountains of Africa ; (2) between the Mediterranean and the Antil- 

 lean region; (3) between the Armorican folds of Belgium and south- 

 ern Great Britain and those of the Appalachians; (4) between the 

 Caledonian ones and the Appalachians; (5) the pre-Cambrian simi- 

 larities of northern lands; and (6) the comagmatic similarities be- 

 tween Euro-Africa and the Americas. 



After making all discounts, it must be said that there still remain 

 several geologic and faunal shnl/rrrifies on the two sides of the At- 

 lantic, and chiefly in the north Atlantic. These have long been 

 known, however, and have all had more or less satisfactory explana- 

 tions on the basis of the present geography. But under Wegener's 



