COASTAL CHANGES OF CARIBBEAN ISLANDS. IGl 



Greenland has, though with many minor oscillations, been prevailingly 

 lowered. 



COASTS OF OTHER LANDS. 



General Statement concerning Them. — The question naturally arises: 

 Does the evidence derived from other })arts of the world show that this 

 invasion of the land ])y the sea is likewise indicated by flooded valleys 

 and other related facts. I shall thereft)re very briefly pass in review the 

 coastlines of other lands, noting only theiispect of their river valleys and 

 the evidence afforded by the distriV)ution of animals and plants on islands 

 near the shores. Thus fiir the facts concerning elevated and depressed 

 sea-margins, except in northern Europe and the eastern United States, 

 have not begun to be studied with the care which is necessary to make 

 the results of much value to the inquirer pursuing the lines of research 

 indicated in this paper. 



Caribbean District. — Beginning with the Cari1)bcan district, we find in 

 the islands which constitute the eastern border of that area of inclosed 

 "svater some interesting evidence, derived from the distribution of the 

 living organic fomis, that the Antillean archipelago has been subjected 

 to a recent depression. 



Some years ago Mr W. F. Ganong, instructor in the botanical depart- 

 ment of Harvard University, was so kind as to prepare for me a table, 

 showing the distril)ution of a large number of species through these 

 islands, the forms being selected which were deemed of value for an in- 

 quiry as to the permanence of the division between these isles. From 

 this list, as well as from the work of other inquirers, it appeared that 

 there was no proof of long continued isolation of these bits of land, such 

 a8 Wallace's researches have shown to have occurred in the islands of 

 the East Indies. It is, indeed, difficult to account for the similarity of 

 this life excei^t on the sui)position that the region has recently been one 

 of connected land wliich was united with South America. 



It may be well to note in this connection that the recent (lei)ression of 

 Florida, the evidence of which has already been mentioned, may have 

 Ijcen associated with tlie inovcnuMit which lowered tlie lands of the 

 Antillean district. 



We may also observe that the salt deposits on the border of tlie gulf 

 of Mexico in western Louisiana, which are probably of Tertiary age, indi- 

 cate a period of very dry climate in that ])art of the world, a condition 

 which would be bnjught about by the exclusion of the tropical current 

 from the Caril)bean district, such as a connected land l)arriLT on the east 

 would l)ring about. 



South America. — On the eastern coast of South America such deltas as 



