170 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION Cc. 
Some of the forms he instances, ‘‘ from a circumpolar habitat 
in the Antarctic, seem to creep up to varying distances along 
the Western American coasts to the Galapagos, to California, 
and even to the northern islands of Japan.” Thompson 
would then have us believe, witii Ortman (') (Ortmann, 
‘01. I am unable to refer to this paper, and quote from 
Miss Pratt’s rendering of it) that what agreement there is is, - 
in the main, due to migration along the western shores of 
America, from south to north, where cold currents lower 
the temperature of the tropical seas. The explanation 
which at present concerns us is that given by Murray, and 
stated more strongly by (Pfeffer, ’01, p. 311), and that is the 
theory of a uniform early ‘Tertiary fauna. “ We must,” 
says Pfeffer, “ accordingly expect to find in the oldest and 
earlier middle Tertiary a large number of species identicaily 
occurring in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, for 
instance, in our own region, and in South [svc] Australia. 
If we simply compare the lists which have been drawn up, 
this certainly does not seem to have been the case; buc if 
we take account also of the remarks made by the authors, we 
find that there is a large number of species closely allied to, 
and difficulc to distinguish from those in the Antipodes of a 
similar age. When, further, we recall that the palzon- 
tologists of different countries have very often named ther 
species with lictle or no reference to the works of their col- 
leagues, we have to admit that circumpolarity of the earlier 
Tertiary faunas was so marked that it extended not only 
to the greater majority of genera, but in a great many cases 
(whose number future studies will probably increase), even 
to species. And thus it is certain that the early Tertiary 
fauna had an approximately similar uniform expression or 
representation throughout the whole region of its develop 
ment.”’ Further on he says—‘ The faunas of higher lati- 
tudes represent cveval-relics of the almost uniformly de 
veloped and almost uniformly distributed early Tertiary 
faunas, as they have been evolved under che influence of the 
cooling of the climate by a process of separating out and 
selecting. The similarity of the operating causes secured 
that the same components of the old fauna remained behind 
in both north and south, and thus has arisen the great and 
well-marked similarity of the two faunas.”’ 
This is an extremely clever case of special pleading, and 
is, in my opinion, absolutely without justification. The 
fauna of our older Tertiaries has been investigated chiefly 
by men familiar with that of Europe, and in some cases, 
anxious, apparently, to identify it with that of European 
