83G GEOGRAPHICAL DISTEIBUTION OF SPECIES. [Ch. XXXVIII. 



transmutation 



America 



I. 



verj distinct from tliat of other lands ; for we are taugM by 

 geology that the present continents and oceanic basins are 

 of very high antiquity/ and the southern part of the Ame- 

 rican continent is separated by a wide expanse of sea from 

 Africa, Asia, and the land of the Antarctic regions. We 

 cannot suppose South America to have had a free land commu- 

 nication with any other of the great continents in the Phocene 

 r,T. spnrpplv Tiftrba,r»s in the Miocene epoch ; so that even the 



must 



times, while this Neotropical 

 as isolated as it is now. 



Humboldt 



om 



crowds of lama, guanaco, and alpaca. These quadrupeds, 



camel 



because, during their journey 



her to Brazil or Mexico, 

 must necessarily have 

 lot for them.t In this 



passage, published in 1814, it will be seen that already the 



sumed 



I have already stated that extinct genera of the lama, 



families 



quadrupeds, have been found in the same region in a fossil 



some 



state. But it is remarkable that, m 



fauna is not so unlike that of the rest of the world as is the 



recent. A species of horse, for example, has been found 



(Mastodon 



(V 



monntains 



mastodon 



amniotli occur fossil throughout a considerable 



area 



TsTorth 



although there were no represen- 



tatives of any of these 



it was first colonised by Europeans. 



New World 



The former wide range 



of these quadrupeds implies 



a 



World forms into the New World 



by way of the Andes, in 



times 



^ See above, Vol. I. p. 253. 



t Description of the Equatorial Eegions : 181-i. 



( 



