The Days of a Man 



were described by me in "Natural History" in "A 

 Miocene Catastrophe." 1 



Ancestors The Miocene fish fauna of California is of peculiar 

 i nterest as being largely ancestral to the present one, 

 differences in which are due to the lapse of some two 

 millions of years. My studies clearly show certain 

 facts which may interest a few of my readers: 



1. The present fauna of California is derived from that of 

 the Miocene period, with a certain modern admixture from 

 Alaska and Japan. In the Miocene fauna, so far as known, 

 there are no types likely to have come over from Japan. 



2. The Miocene fauna is transitional in having its roots in 

 the Eocene or Cretaceous. But no fishes of either of these 

 periods have been found in Pacific Coast deposits in America 

 or Asia. 



3. The Tertiary fauna of California is nearly all included in 

 families still extant on the Coast. All of the species are distinct 

 from their living allies, and most of them must be placed in 

 different genera. 



4. The most striking difference between past and present is 

 the absence thus far of the viviparous surf fish (Embiotocida), 

 which form so conspicuous a part of the existing fauna and 

 would be expected in just the conditions in which the fossils 

 have been found. As two different species of this family occur 

 in Japan, it is possible that surf fishes are of Asiatic origin. 

 Among the fossils secured are none showing affinity with 

 Asiatic forms. 



5. No species either distinctly tropical or distinctly sub- 

 arctic appear among the Tertiary fishes of southern California. 

 We must, therefore, conclude that the Miocene temperature 

 differed little from that which obtains at present. 



6. It is evident from the absence, partial or complete, of 

 silt or other rain-washed material in the deposits containing 

 fishes, that the region was arid. 



7. The localities in southern California in which fossil fishes 

 have been found are of two kinds: (a) former shallow inlets 

 within a group of small islands, and (b) the old, deep, narrow- 



* Vol. XXI, 1920. 



