THE MIOCENE OF EUROPE, ASIA, AND NORTH AMERICA 245 



interchange with North America. AustraHa also was separate. During 

 this epoch or in the Phocene may have occurred the union of the East 

 Indies, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, with the Asiatic mainland, enal)ling the 

 animals of Asia to populate these islands. 



The coastal changes of southeastern North America resulted in the 

 establishment of the main present outlines of the East Indies and Florida. 

 Jamaica emerged after the close of the Oligocene; Cuba emerged after the 



Fig. 124. — Middle and Upper Miocene, a period of continental elevation and emergence, 

 consequently of renewed land connections and migrations. Africa broadly united with Europe 

 across the Arabic peninsula, and a typical Asiatic fauna roaming westward into Europe and 

 Africa. Asia connected with the East Indies and the Philippine Islands. Florida elevated at 

 the close of the Miocene. South America divided into northern and southern halves by a broad 

 gulf, the northern half perhaps connected with North America. Australia entirely separated 

 from Asia. Rearranged after W. D. Matthew, 1908. 



beginning of the Miocene; at the termination of the Miocene, Florida 

 became a part of the continent; this continental connection of Florida is 

 consistent with the appearance on this peninsula of an important part of 

 the Upper Miocene fauna of North America in Lower Pliocene times.^ 

 Both Dall - and Hill ^ concur in l^elieving that North and South America 

 have been united from the Miocene to the present time. 



* De Lapparent, A., Traite do Geologic, p. 1600. 



^ Dall, W. H., Geological Results of the Study of the Tertiary Fauna of Florida. Trans. 

 Wagner hist., Vol. Ill, Pt. 6, 190.3, pp. 1549-1.5.50. 



' Hill, R. T., Cieological History of the Isthmus of Panama and Portions of Costa Rica. 

 Bull. Mtis. Comp. Zoiil., Vol. XXVIII, June, 1898, p. 270. 



