304 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



connection between the south of Spain and Morocco 

 was much wider than is generally assumed, and that 

 the coast-line stretched from Oran in Algeria straight 

 across to Cartagena in Spain (^, ii., p. 228). 



My allusions to the lands lying beyond the Lusi- 

 tanian province, refer chiefly to the Canary Islands 

 and Madeira. Whatever doubts Dr. Wallace had 

 on the subject of their former connection with 

 Morocco, it cannot be denied that they used to be 

 of much larger extent, especially in miocene and 

 pliocene times. It seems extremely probable that 

 these islands formed part of the mainland of North 

 Africa until comparatively recently, and that they 

 are the last traces of a sunken continent which united 

 Africa and South America. A discussion of this 

 problem, however, must be deferred, as it is a com- 

 plicated one, and one which would lead me alto- 

 gether outside the scope of this little volume. I 

 hope I shall have an opportunity to publish my 

 views on this subject before long, meanwhile the 

 reader must content himself with this mere state- 

 ment. 



During the greater portion of the Miocene, and I 

 think for part of the Pliocene Epoch too, the advance 

 of the Lusitanian species eastward was barred on 

 the continent of Europe by an arm of the sea which 

 stretched northward along the Rhone valley from 

 the Mediterranean. The Lusitanian forms which 

 originated in Southern Spain were able to travel east 

 during these times by way of North-west Africa, 



