478 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



study of Alexander I Land and the region that adjoins it on the 

 west."* In this connection, on examination of the geological collec- 

 tions from West Antarctide from the Patagonian and Cape Horn 

 expeditions, M. Gaiidry has drawn conclusions worthy of deep con- 

 sideration.'' The character of the Patagonian locene and Miocene 

 faunas strengthens his belief in the existence during the Tertiary 

 period of " an immense antarctic continent, with rich vegetation and 

 w^arm climate," of which the polar lands formed a part. The latest 

 period of depression which has by degrees isolated these lands, and 

 the invasion of ice that has modified or stopped the development of 

 life, should be placed about contemporaneous with the formation of 

 " pampas ; " that is to say, after the Pliocene period, w^hich witnessed 

 an invasion as far south as Patagonia of northern animals (mastodon, 

 taj)ir, etc.), until the beginning of the Quaternary, when man is 

 known to have lived in this region. Research and stud}^ in the Ork- 

 neys and South Shetland and in Antarctica, on the ooze and clay 

 deposits and formations of the same period as the pampas, is an 

 undertaking of deep interest. M. Charcot says it should be as inter- 

 esting as a trip to the moon.'' 



Since the south polar region was separated from the continents and 

 began to be covered by the ice, life on this part of the globe has in 

 fact undergone such special evolution that theories about the bipolar- 

 ity of species seem to be at present destroyed. There remains to be 

 determined the time of separation and the links of this evolution 

 that have disappeared. Have all the micro-organisms which were 

 found l)y the observers of the Francais scattered over all the south 

 polar region been dead for thousands of 3'ears, or are they still 

 developing under conditions of temperature that would ordinarily 

 prevent life? On the other hand, beneath the ice must lie hidden a 

 flora that has disappeared, and also the immediate ancestors of the 

 present living animals, which could not survive such severe cold. 

 Here must be buried an extinguished world, a " whole system of life 

 absolutely unknown, but seen heretofore, dead from its inability to go 

 farther north on account of the cooling of the earth." ^ Since all 

 research on the mineral formation of the globe and on conditions of 

 life may lead to unanticipated practical results, it may be seen that 

 these suppositions are not altogether speculative. 



Although singular conditions have prevailed on the physical struc- 

 ture of the globe in the antarctic with regard to previous studies, 

 these will continue under far more propitious circumstances. For 

 the work of observing the tides, and for researches on solar and lunar 



"■ Lacroix : Instructions, p. 11. 



^ Gaudry : Instructions, pp. 19-29. 



'^ Doctor Charcot : Pourquoi faut-il aller au Pole-Sutl, p. 14. 



'^ Doctor Charcot : Ibid. 



