126 THE NEOG^IC REALM. [CHAP. 



southern seas, aided perhaps by the Antarctic ice, and a former 

 greater extension of South America towards the pole." After 

 remarking how such transmission might take place with but little 

 extension of the present Antarctic lands, Dr Wallace adds that 

 " there is evidently some means by which ova or young fishes are 

 carried moderate distances, from the fact that remote Alpine lakes 

 and distinct river-systems often have the same species. Glaciers 

 and icebergs generally have pools of fresh water on their surfaces ; 

 and whatever cause transmits fish to an isolated pond might 

 occasionally stock these pools, and by this means introduce the 

 fishes of one southern island into another." 



Allowing all due weight to these objections to a land con- 

 nection between Notogaea and Neogsea, it seems almost im- 

 possible to believe that the transit has taken place in the manner 

 suggested by Dr Wallace. 



Another piece of evidence is afforded by some observations of 

 Mr F. E. Beddard l in regard to the intimate relationship existing 

 between the earth-worms of New Zealand and Eastern Australia 

 on the one hand, and those of Patagonia on the other. Without 

 committing himself to any theory as to how the communication 

 took place, the author is content to say that "the facts seem to 

 point to a more recent communication between Patagonia and 

 New Zealand than between either of those countries and the Cape 

 of Good Hope." 



Assuming a land connection, earth-worms would suggest that 

 it was probably not in very high latitudes. Now I have been 

 informed on verbal authority that there is a curious similarity 

 between the slugs of Patagonia and those of Polynesia. And it is 

 probable that the latter tract indicates a subsiding area which 

 was formerly connected with Patagonia. Possibly, therefore, there 

 may have been a land connection between Patagonia and Australia 

 via Polynesia ; and this may have been the line through 

 which Neogsea received the Notogseic elements in its fauna. 

 Whether it could have existed at a date sufficiently late for the 

 passage of the marsupials, it is impossible to say. If it existed, 

 it probably allowed only a limited communication between the 



1 Appendix, No. 5, pp. 170, 171. 



