ANTAECTIC CONTINENT 



423 



reptiles and amphibians, Dr. Gill* maintained that the evi- 

 dence in favour of a former antarctic continental area is 

 strong, and, in view of the affinities of the species of the now 

 distant regions, the conclusion is logical that the time of 

 disruption was not remote in a geological sense. 



So far as existing mammals and birds are concerned, said 

 Dr. Allen,f there seemed to be very slight need for calling in 

 the aid of a former antarctic continent to explain their pre- 

 sent distribution. The distribution of marsupials alone 

 among mammals gave a hint of a possible former land connec- 

 tion between South America and Australia. 



Mr. Ancey J gives a valuable contribution to the subject 

 at issue, founded on the distribution of the terrestrial 

 mollusks. The results of his enquiries are that the evident 

 relationship of the faunas of South America and the Austra- 

 lian region can be satisfactorily explained by the assump- 

 tion of a former antarctic continent uniting these land areas. 



As the antarctic problem has been widely discussed from 

 an ornithological standpoint, and since Dr. Forbes and Pro- 

 fessor Milne -Edwards have based their theories of former 

 land connections largely on the past and present range of the 

 flightless ratite birds, it is right to mention that Professor 

 Burckhardt disagrees entirely with their conclusions. He 

 does not dispute the possibility of former antarctic land con- 

 nections, especially between New Zealand and South America. 

 But he does not consider that the flightless giant birds of the 

 southern hemisphere can in any way be regarded as furnish- 

 ing evidence in favour of the theory of a former antarctic 

 continent. 



Prom a zoogeographical point of view, inconspicuous 

 groups of invertebrates, such as the earthworms, are of far 

 greater value than birds are. When the older writers dis- 

 cussed the antarctic problems we knew as yet practically 

 nothing of their distribution. Within recent years several 

 zoologists have made a special study of this group, and have 

 found that earthworms are of the greatest value in the study 



* Gill, Th., " Fishes, Eeptiles and Amphibians of the Antarctic," p. 315. 



t Allen, J. A., "Birds and Mammals of the Antarctic," p. 317. 



| Ancey, C. F., "Faunes malacologiques australes," p. 27. 



Burckhardt, E., "Problem des antarktischen Schopfungscentrum." 



