232 



NATURE 



[April 



o> 



HJI I 



plavR the r6lc of land, and is charted as the margin of the 



continent. 



Concerning the topo({raphy of the interior, all is specula- 

 tion except in the vicinity of Captain Scott's and Sir Ernest 

 Shacklcton's exploits. 



Thus it is that some hold the view of a continuous high 

 land from Graham's Land to South Victoria Land — a con- 

 tinuation of the Andean chain ; others regard th»; possibility 

 of a great trough-subsidence, continuous from the Koss sea 

 to the WeddcU .sea, isolating an eastern and a western 

 .Antarctica. Vet another view is that Knderby Land is part 

 of a third isolated mass. There arc many grounds in 

 support of the existence of a trough between the Victoria 

 Land massif and the Andean continuation of Graham's 

 Land. Granted its existence, it will be still uncertain 

 whether this depression sinks below sea-level, or is merely 

 a topographical feature of the land. The existence of a 

 passage below sea-level appears quite unlikely to me, 

 Nordenskjcild and Gunnar Anderson have shown how the 

 highlands of Graham's Land must be regarded as a con- 

 tinuation of the Andes. I'ossibly, further to the westward, 

 this folding has been responsible for land trending towards 

 King Kdward VI I. Land, the presence of which has 

 been inferred by Charcot, and does not participate in the 

 piling up of the mighty ranges which girdle the south 

 geographic pole. 



This may ultimately prove to be correct, for the geology 

 of Victoria Land corresponds with that of Australia and 

 Tasmania, whilst, in the same region, Andean types are 

 represented further to the eastward amongst the Pacific 

 islands. 



.\nothcr point of correspondence is that .South Victoria 

 Land is elevated en hloc, and not subject to the contortions 

 of folding illustrated in the Andes. I am not by any means 

 the first to entertain this idea of an inverted South America. 

 According to it, the highlands of Graham's Land are con- 

 tinuous with the mountain ranges of South Victoria Land. 

 To the westward of this main range there is a great 

 plateau, in part as much as about 10,000 feet in height, 

 eventually sloping to the Indian and Atlantic oceans. 

 Eastwards, on the Pacific side of the range, there is a 

 precipitous scarp. We have no means, as yet, of telling 

 whether this lower area is barrier ice with occasional 

 islands, or is extensive undulating land. 



Between Gauss Berg and Graham's Land, on the Atlantic 

 ocean side, it is likely that most of the sea-front will be 

 occupied by barrier ice ; Enderby and Kemp lands, therefore, 

 may be no more than islands. 



The consanguinity of the lavas of Gauss Berg and the 

 Ross sea downthrow area is suggestive of a similar down- 

 throw in the direction of the former ; it is possible, there- 

 fore, that a considerable indentation lies west of Gauss 

 Berg. 



According to present views, the Antarctic continent has 

 an area of about five million square miles, the major part 

 of which is a plateau of great height. Geographers are 

 generally agreed, at any rate, that the main land mass of 

 the Antarctic regions lies in the Australian Quadrant. This 

 has been independently arrived at from theoretical con- 

 siderations by Mr. E. A. Reeves, who has discussed the 

 subject of distribution of land and sea as judged by the 

 deflection of the lines of magnetic force. 



Glimpses only of the past history of Antarctica are yet 

 known — fragments gleaned from the analysis of scientific 

 data to hand. We know that there were periods when ice 

 was alrnost unknown, when great formations of water- 

 deposited beds accumulated, associated with coal-bearing 

 stiata ; these beds have their exact prototypes in Tasmania 

 — in fact, where Tasmania leaves off South Victoria Land 

 begins. We believe that in not long geologically remote 

 times the intervening 1500 miles became engulfed ; this con- 

 clusion is arrived at by an entirely separate line of argument 

 proceeding from the evidence supplied by fossil and living 

 forms of life. 



Australian and New Zealand types show a remarkable 

 affinity with those of South America and South Africa. 

 This striking similarity in variety and range is exemplified 

 not only in the bird life and mammalia, but also in the 

 Crustacea, amphipoda, moUusca, galaxias, and others. The 

 similarity extends to the flora also. To the casual observer 

 the connection is most noticeable in regard to the birds and 

 mammals. We find parrots and struthius birds of the 



NO. 2163, VOL. 86] 



ostrich type common In these southern lands. Considering 

 the marsupial mammalia, such occur at the present day in 

 the Australian region and in Central and South Xmrri, . 

 Of the two sub-orders, Polyprotodontia and Dip 

 into which the marsupialia arc divided, the Dipi 

 which arc the more primitive, are essentially Australian, a- 

 shown by the abundance of their fossil remains. The fart 

 however, that a representative of this class is now V. ' 

 in South America is strong evidence of a land connf > 

 unless an independent and convergent process of '■v<. 

 is regarded as po.ssible. Further, the fossil evid«-i 

 lutely in favour of a continuity between South An 

 Australia — as, for instance, may be mentioned amongst th. 

 extinct marsupial fauna of Patagonia, the Prothylacinu«, 

 which is essentially identical with the Tasmanian tig<r 

 All this evidence confirms the theory of connection bctw«' n 

 the southern lands by way of Antarctica. 



On the other hand, there is no line of argument foun'li d 

 on fact which can be urged to support the view of immigra- 

 tion by way of Asia. Suppose, for instance, that the 

 marsupial fauna had come to Australia from Asia ; then 

 we should expect to find the types most numerous and most 

 generalised in Northern Australia and Asia. Identically 

 opposite is the case, and in the whole of Asia no living or 

 fossil marsupial has ever been found. 



The evidence is conclusive, therefore, in the minds of 

 men of science, that in the not long (geologically) past there 

 existed a habitable Antarctic continent with rays stretching 

 up to meet with what arc now Tasmania, South America. 

 New Zealand, and South Africa. With regard to th»- 

 relative dates at which these countries became severed from 

 tho southern continent, the evidence shows that with South 

 Africa was the earliest and loosest. New Zealand, though 

 possessing many of the features of Antarctic flora and 

 fauna, never received a marsupial population, and its final 

 separation is thereby allocated to the early Tertiary times. 

 Australia, then separated by the formation of Bass strait, 

 and more recently Tasmania and South .America, have 

 become isolated by the cngulfment, due to diastrophism of 

 the land bridges connecting both with the Antarctic 

 continent. 



Much of the strata of Southern Australia are composed 

 of the debris of this lost land. To the south of Australia, 

 where row is ocean, were highlands, providing an abundance 

 of material shed northward into what were then lowlands 

 and marine areas. Volcanic activity on a large scale, re- 

 maining even to the present day in isolated spots, attended 

 the separation of these land masses. Finally, an ice age of 

 almost unprecedented severity overwhelmed the residual 

 Antarctic continent, and swept every trace of life into th<r 

 southern ocean. 



The Plans of the Australian Expedition. 



We hope to have a complement of fifty men — ship and 

 land party — and proceed south from Australia about the 

 close of this year. Practically every member of the land 

 party will be a specialist in a particular branch of science. 

 Most of the recruiting will be amongst the graduates of the 

 universities of Australia and New Zealand. 



It is our intention to land several parties with stores and 

 huts, to winter between Cape Adare and Gauss Berg, and 

 the ship will return to Australia and New Zealand for the 

 winter, though not remaining idle. It had been our inten- 

 tion of dropping a few men at Cape Adare, for that is the 

 easiest and most accessible landing on the Antarctic con- 

 tinent. The facilities there afforded of coal and stores left 

 by Borchgrevinck's expedition would have further simplified 

 matters. In the light of recent events, of course this must 

 be eliminated from our programme. It is our special desire 

 to accomplish a complete coast survey between the two 

 points mentioned, and complete the magnetic charting of 

 the region north of the south magnetic pole. The several 

 wintering stations will simultaneously despatch coastal 

 sledging parties on either hand, thus dividing up the task. 

 A special journey will be made inland from our main base 

 on the north coast to the south magnetic pole, thus com- 

 pleting, in conjunction with the former journey in which I 

 participated, the crossing of that corner of South Victoria 

 Land. For the rest, without entering into details, I may 

 say that no branch of science will be neglected. 



Before .Australian meteorology is placed on a final basis — 

 before the causes are known which produce the effects 



