ScHARFF — Some JReinarliS on (he Atlantia Problein. 281 



The rauge of these mariao mammals appears to Messrs. Schiter to 

 imply that their ancestors have spread along some coast-liue Avhich 

 probably imited the Old World and the New at no verj' distant period 

 (p. 217). 



Birds. 



Tlie birds of the Atlantic Islands, and the relationship of the 

 "birds of the Old World to those of the New, deserve a more careful 

 study tlian I was able to extend to them. A list of the birds 

 inhabiting tlie Azores is given in Godman's work already referred to ; 

 and he informs us that 91 per cent, are also found in Europe, Pyrrhula 

 murina being peculiar to the islands. 



Dr. A. Konig has paid special attention to the birds of the Canary 

 Islands, and discovered in the island of Teneriife an owl ( Glaucidium 

 siju) which had hitherto only been known from Cuba. He also 

 noticed that the Teneriffe wren differs considerably from both the 

 European species, and that it approaches more nearly the American 

 Regulus satrapa (p. 8). 



Doubts are thrown upon the correctness of the author's conclusions 

 as to the existence of an American element in the Canarian avi -fauna 

 by Dr. Hartert. He believes that the Canarian avi-fauna is ex- 

 clusively composed of European and North African species. He 

 also records the fact that the avi-fauna of the Eastern and Western 

 groups of islands are strikingly different from one another as is the 

 fauna of Madeira from that of the Canary Islands generally (p. 114). 



South American affinities with Eiu'ope or Africa are perhaps less 

 noticeable in birds than in any other group ; though there are a few 

 instances denoting that such exist. 



Comparatively few fossil species of birds are known ; but there is 

 one which is of exceptional interest, as pointing to a former more 

 intimate connection between Europe and South America — viz., Trogon 

 gaUicus, discovered in the Miocene deposits of France. The genus 

 Trogon, including some of the most gorgeous birds known, is now 

 entirely confined to Central and South America, Avhere twenty -five 

 species are still found living. 



Reptiles. 



Many of the existing species of Reptiles are very ancient. The 



distribution of the class, as a whole, elucidates therefore, in a 



striking manner, some obscure points in the ancient geographical 



condition of the part of the world Avith which we are dealing at 



present. 



2 A -J. 



