324 Tropical Zoology. (July, 
Much, however, requires to be done, before such a theory 
can claim recognition among the established doétrines of 
science. Mr. Belt himself insists on the necessity of a 
careful and thorough going verification of his hypothesis. 
** When geologists have mapped out the limits of ancient 
glacier and continental ice all over the world, it will be 
possible to calculate the minimum amount of water that 
was abstracted from the sea; and if by that time hydro- 
graphers have shown on their charts the shoals and sub- 
merged banks that would be laid dry, fabled Atlantis 
will rise before our eyes between Europe and America, and 
in the Pacific the Malay Archipelago will give place to the 
Malay continent.” In our opinion, a knowledge of the 
distribution of animal life, much more accurate and general 
than we now possess, will also be found needful for the full 
solution of the problem. Is it not also possible that by a 
careful examination of the less deeply submerged banks and 
shoals, evidence as to the presence or absence of traces of 
former human activity might be obtained ? 
We must not, however, forget that Mr. Belt’s interesting 
hypothesis is not without a rival. The doctrine of areas of 
subsidence and elevation so ably expounded by Mr. Darwin 
in his Naturalists’ Voyage, accounts for many of the same 
phenomena by an alteration of the level, not of the sea, but 
of the continents, and certainly agrees with many recognised 
facts. We have not space to examine in how far the two 
theories are necessarily antagonistic and mutually exclusive. 
It is plain that some of the Pacific Islands—which accord- 
ing to both views are the mountains of a now submerged 
continent—are still gradually subsiding. It is no less 
manifest that other portions of the earth’s surface, e¢.g., 
certain parts of the South American coast, are gradually 
rising. The evidence of both these progressive variations 
of level may be found in the above-mentioned work of Mr. 
Darwin. ‘The phenomena of the atolls, likewise, appear to 
us to agree better with the assumption of a gradual subsi- 
dence of the dry land than with its inundation by the 
sudden influx of water. On the other hand, the Beltian 
hypothesis, harmonises best with the deluge-traditions of 
the old and the new world. 
On Mr. Belt’s view, we should naturally expect to find 
the fauna and the flora of any large island closely corres- 
pond to that of the adjacent continent, with which during 
the glacial period it would have been connected. Yet to 
this rule—if rule it be—there are notable exceptions of which 
account must be taken. Why should the larger Antilles be 
