Vice- Presidenf s Address. 173 



which determined the distribution of life in bygone ages 

 must have been, upon the whole, more uniform and equable 

 than they are now. It is unnecessary that I should go 

 into detailed proof ; but I may refer, by way of illustration, 

 to what is known of the Silurian and Carboniferous fossils 

 of the Arctic regions. Most of these occur also in the 

 temperate latitudes of North America and Europe, while 

 many are recognised as distinctive types of the same strata 

 nearly all the world over. As showing how strongly the 

 former broad distribution of life-forms is contrasted with 

 their present restricted range. Professor Heilprin has cited 

 the Brachiopoda. Taking existing species and varieties as 

 being 135 in number, he remarks that " there is scarcely 

 a single species which can be said to be strictly cosmopolitan 

 in its range, although not a few are very widely distributed ; 

 and, if we except boreal and hyperboreal forms, but a very 

 limited number whose range embraces opposite sides of 

 the same ocean. On the other hand, if we accept the data 

 furnished by Kichthofen concerning the Chinese Brachiopoda, 

 we find that out of a total of thirteen Silurian and twenty- 

 four Devonian species, no less than ten of the former and 

 sixteen of the latter recur in the equivalent deposits of 

 Western Europe ; and, further, that the Devonian species 

 furnish eleven, or nearly 50 per cent, of the entire number, 

 which are cosmopolitan or nearly so. Again, of the twenty- 

 five Carboniferous species, North America holds fully fifteen, 

 or 60 per cent., and a very nearly equal number are 

 cosmopolitan." The same palaeontologist reminds us that 

 by far the greater number of fossils which occur in the 

 Palaeozoic strata of Australia are present also in regions 

 lying well within the limits of the north temperate zone. 

 " In fact," he continues, " the relationship between this 

 southern fauna and the faunas of Europe and North America 

 is so great as to practically amount to identity." 



But, side by side with such evidence of broad distribution, 

 we are confronted with facts which go to show that, even 

 at the dawn of Palceozoic times, the oceanic areas at all 

 events had their more or less distinct life-provinces. While 

 many of the old forms were cosmopolitan, others were 



