748 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 124. 



V. Regio Medrenica, without true Seals 

 (Phoeiiue), but having Otaria and Macro- 

 rhinus from the south ; no Sirenian known. 



VI. Regio Notopolagica, characterized by 

 four endemic genera of PJwcidce, and by the 

 presence of many Otarke ; without Sirenians, 

 but with two endemic forms of Cetaceans 

 {Neohalana and Berardius) . 



In conclusion, I will call attention to 

 some of the more remarkable points in the 

 general distribution of the marine Mam- 

 mals, and to their apparent significance. 



In the first place it is evident that the 

 Pacific has much more in common with the 

 Notopelagian region than the Atlantic. 

 Otaria and Maerorhiiivs, quite unknown in 

 the Atlantic, extend themselves to the 

 northern extremity of the Pacific, the 

 former pervading that ocean up to Behr- 

 ing's Straits, and the latter reaching to the 

 Californian coast. It follows that in former 

 ages there must have been some barrier in 

 the Atlantic which did not exist in the Pa- 

 cific to stop their progress northwards. The 

 only barrier I can imagine that would have 

 effected this must have been a land uniting 

 South America and Africa, across which 

 they could not travel. Adopting this hy- 

 pothesis, we have, at the same time, an ex- 

 planation of the presence of the Manatee 

 on both the American and African coasts. 

 The Manatee could hardly live to cross the 

 Atlantic. It is only found close to the 

 coast, where it browses on sea-weeds and 

 other vegetable food in shallow water. 

 How did it travel from America to Africa 

 (or vice versa), unless there were a continu- 

 ous shore-line between them? The same 

 may be said of the Monk Seal {Monachus), 

 of which one species lives in the Mediter- 

 ranean and on the African coast and Islands, 

 and another in the West Indies. We can 

 hardly believe that these creatures could 

 easily traverse the whole Atlantic. The 

 hypothesis of a former barrier of land be- 

 tween Africa and America, which we know 



is supported by other facts of distribution,* 

 would alone explain the difficulty. 



On the other hand, in the Pacific we find 

 no such break between the north and south. 

 The aquatic Mammals of N"otopelagia have 

 evidently had free access to tlie whole 

 Pacific . for a long period and have well 

 availed themselves of this facility. 



Again, while the great Southern Ocean 

 exhibits a considerable uniformity of marine 

 Mammalian life, we see the Northern waters 

 divided into two distinctly recognizable Ee- 

 gions by the interposed masses of land. All 

 these facts, with the one exception of the 

 supposed Atlantic Barrier, would tend in 

 favor of the now generally accepted 

 doctrine that the principal masses of land 

 and water are not of modern origin, but 

 have existed mainly in their present shapes 

 throughout all ages. 



p. l. sclatbe. 



Zoological Society, London. 



FORMER EXTENSION OF CORNELL GLACIER 



NEAR THE SOUTHERN END OF 31 EL- 



VILLE BAY.f 



The initial effort of Professor Tarr's paper 

 is to controvert the opinions recently ex- 

 pressed by Chamberliu and Salisbury re- 

 specting the former extension of the general 

 glaciation of Greenland, their view being 

 that the coast was not universally and pro- 

 foundly overwhelmed by the inland ice. 

 The observations of Professor Tarr had a 

 range in latitude of about 5° 30', those of 

 Mr. Chamberlin about 17° 15', and those of 

 Professor Salisbury about 12°. The joint 

 observations of Chamberlin and Salisbury 

 covered 18° 30', the range of their landings 

 being about 13° 40'. These landings em- 

 braced thirteen different localities, counting 

 the numerous landings on the border of 

 Inglefield Gulf as one. This statement has 



*Cf. Wallace, Geogr. Distrib. Vol. I., p. 156. 

 tBull. Geol. Soo. Amer., Vol. 8, pp. 251-268, 

 Plates XXV.-XXIX., March, 1897. 



