AEQUINOCTIA, AN OLD PALEOZOIC CONTINENT 577 



those countries too, there has not yet been found any fossil of the 

 Old Paleozoic. To the west, it may have stretched out as far as 

 Madagascar. 



3. In the central part, north and south of the equator, moun- 

 tain ranges of an almost east-west direction must have played an 

 important part in this very old continent. 



4. The Cambrian deposits on the north leaned against it, but 

 in the south they have not been found. Nevertheless they may 

 have existed south of Australia, where the ocean now is. 



5. In the north, to a large extent toward the south, and in the 

 south, fairly far toward the north, a transgression passed over the 

 border areas of this continent during the Silurian, the Devonian, 

 and the Lower Carboniferous periods (with a secondary uncon- 

 f ormability) . 



6. Then a folding occurred of these sediments of the Old 

 Paleozoic. Border ranges were formed at the periphery of the old 

 continent which, from a tectonic point of view, are similar to the 

 Tertiary Cordilleras. 



7. During the Middle Carboniferous, denudation and leveling 

 took place. 



8. Lastly, the transgressions of the Upper Carboniferous and 

 the Lower Permian seas invaded (with a real unconf ormability), 

 not only the denuded Eopaleozoic border ranges, but also part of 

 the old continent itself. 



To this continent, the existence of which during the Old 

 Paleozoic seems to be evident, I give the name of Aequinoctia. 



It was during the Pernio- Carboniferous that its dislocation 

 began, in the territory of the Dutch East Indian Archipelago. 

 The demembration of this oldest continent must have continued 

 during the Mesozoic and the Tertiary; and so it became, in time, 

 one of the most unsteady parts of the earth's crust. In this con- 

 nection it is interesting to observe that the territory of the 

 archipelago exhibits nowhere the tremendous development of the 

 Mesozoic which has been observed, for instance, in the Alps, 

 though uninterrupted sedimentation has taken place in some 

 regions during the whole Mesozoic and part of the Tertiary. As a 

 rule, however, complete series appear hardly anywhere. This 



