Permanence and Evolution. 163 



derived from the presence of Edentata in both, 

 an order which belonged in tertiary times also 

 to Europe and North America. 



So it is a favourite speculation that there was 

 once a continent connecting South Africa and 

 India, but of the common types on which this 

 is founded many, as for instance the large 

 felines and the large Pachyderms, can be shown 

 to be once cosmopolitan ; also the same may 

 be said as to the Edentata in common between 

 South Africa and Brazil. 



Some other items of circumstantial evidence, 

 relied upon by evolutionists, seem to be rather 

 doubtful. For instance, Wallace laid much stress 

 upon the supposed fact that whereas there was 

 shallow water from India to Java, and shallow 

 water again from Celebes to Australia, arguing 

 land connection in no very remote past, there was 

 deep sea between, on the one hand, Java and 

 its appendages, and on the other Celebes and 

 its appendages, showing that there had been 



