The Spine-finned Teleostei 



381 



named lands, branched out completely into a marine life, 

 and by gradual modification and specialization — not least 

 in fin, in scale, and in color development — originated that 

 wealth of species and variety of structural aspect, that we 

 now see in the 300 or thereby species of tropical and sub- 

 tropical seas. 



Transition can next be made to the large and very 

 compact family of the Cichlidae (Chromidae of some 

 authors), that is made up of about 45 genera and 300 

 species, all of which are strictly freshwater, even though a 

 few pass to the mouths of rivers, or migrate along some 

 coasts from one river to another. The family is also com- 

 pact in distribution, and clearly indicates the former ex- 

 istence of a wide S. Atlantis and also of a Lemuria or 

 Indo-Mascarene bridge that together connected South 

 America with south-central Asia (Fig. 35, p. 240). 

 The present distribution from Texas and New Mexico 

 southward to the Argentine, and eastward to S. India and 

 Ceylon, is shown by a fine dotted line in the accompanying 

 map (Fig. 66). 



~^ \ ' r 



' '■ ';.■->;;••' 



\<\^ . 



7'epcidae-- I /" ""' , ^ c5^ 



CentpfPCfildae" 

 Cc'ehuaae-;- — " 

 T'oTfiacentri.aae' 

 ZalriacLe—' — 

 Scaridae <=<="=• 



Fig. 66. Distribution of three large freshwater and three de- 

 rivative marine teieostean families. The wide areas occupied indi- 

 cate the former existence of wide N. Atlantis, S. Atlantis and Indo- 

 Mascarene bridges. 



