Land Connections of the African Continent 31 



water fishes and land plants common to both continents. A land 

 connection is also required between Madagascar and southern 

 India (Lcrnuria continent) because of the conmion presence es- 

 pecially of lemurs. The presence of Glossopteris in the Per- 

 main deposits of South Africa, India and Australia, has been 

 regarded as a proof of the existence of the Gondwana continent 

 as also the occurrence of Anomodonts in the same beds in India 

 and South Africa. This Gondwanaland must have reached over 

 the Atlantic to Brazil, because the Glossopteris Flora occurs 

 there toe and because representatives of the family Mesosauridae 

 occur in Permian deposits of South America and South Africa. 



Now, none of these land bridges are necessary, except those 

 connecting Africa and Eurasia. All the phenomena which they 

 have to explain, can al*?!) be explained in some other way The 

 land br-dge of Tertiary times between Brazil and Africa has to 

 explain the presence of allied fishes and plants on the two conti- 

 nents. No species or genus of fish is common to the two conti- 

 nents. "\^ith regard to the fishes, this land connection is based 

 chiefly on the distribution of the Characinidae and the O'chlidas. 

 The former family is confined to the fresh waters of Africa and 

 Central and South America, while the Cichlidae also occur in 

 Madagascar, Syria, India and Ceylon. The Characinidae are 

 very generalised, or, in other words, very primitive; they are the 

 most primitive of the six families of the Ostariophysi, to which 

 belong the carps and the barbers. These last are spread prac- 

 tically all over the world. It is, therefore, very probable, that 

 the more primitive types had a greater distribution than to-day, 

 and this may account for their occurrence in the two continents. 

 The Cichlidae had probably also a large distribution formerly, 

 for an Eocene genus of North America can be referred to this 

 family. Although representatives of the family Galaxiidae occur 

 in fresh water at the Cape, at the southern end of South America. 

 New Zealand and South Australia, this is not taken as a proot 

 of former land connections for one species of the genus Galaxias, 

 occurring in all these localities also lives in the sea. It is very 

 probable that the Characinidae and the Cichlidae were originally 

 sea fishes, which like most, if not all, primitive types retreated 



