10 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



explanation of this fact is that the more primitive Cricetine-like rodents 

 reached Madagascar by land connection from Africa and that they were 

 subsequently isolated there before the advent of the more specialized and 

 successful Murinse, which have noAV totally replaced them on the main- 

 land." 



So much for the question of rafting- — some creatures can be carried 

 and some — many more — cannot survive such conditions. ^Ye may recog- 

 nize by their haphazard distribution and by their habits in the field those 

 waifs which can withstand raft transport. Yet even these resistant types 

 are very often strangely absent; there are no Varanids in Madagascar, 

 and yet we should naturally suppose that they would be among the very 

 first immigrants by raft carriage. 



This whole question is really but a side issue with Matthew. He is 

 far more absorbed in other problems ; hence it is only fair to say that this 

 island question is of secondary interest to him. Dr. Matthew's masterly 

 handling of his chapters dealing with mammals is beyond praise. He 

 has surely shown that the present distribution of most if not all of the 

 recent mammal groups may be plausibly explained without having re- 

 course to postulating extensive changes of land forms. But Matthew 

 deals with some other matters as one without authority, and one feels 

 that his opinions would be different had he seen and not merely read 

 about the rafts, and the landings of the rafts, of which he must perforce 

 write to explain his ideas. 



Man}' will notice trifling inaccuracies in the text, such as the statement 

 that the large ground-birds of modern times are "to-day peculiarly in- 

 habitants of arid regions." There is the ISTew Zealand Kiwi in the rank 

 damp fern forest and the host of different cassowaries in Ceram, the 

 Papuan Islands, Wew Britain, Queensland, and anyone who has ever tried 

 to hunt cassowary knows how well they are adapted to getting about in 

 the densest jungle in the world. However, such points are of so small 

 import that it is hardly worth while mentioning them. My final word is 

 not to advise but to adjure everyone who aims at a wider knowledge of 

 natural history to read Dr. Matthew's paper. 



