376 ORIGIN OF LIFE IN AMERICA 



the north, and after having given rise to Blanus in southern 

 Europe, the American ancestor reverted again to Amphisbaena 

 when it reached Africa. Amphisbaena, moreover, is represented 

 in Brazil by about a dozen species, some of which are very 

 closely allied to those of Sierra Leone and Liberia in West 

 Africa. If we attribute such a range to a former sub-universal 

 distribution, as Professor Pfeffer suggests, then practically 

 all animals with a wide southern range must at some time or 

 other have passed through 'North America and Asia or Europe 

 to reach their present habitats, and for such an assumption 

 we have no palaeontological evidence. I think a case of this 

 kind, as Dr. Blanford remarks, implies a former land con- 

 nection between South America and Africa. We possess 

 among the Amphisbaenidae an even more striking example of 

 faunal relationship between these two continents. There are 

 two species of Anops, one of which (Anops kingi) ranges 

 from Brazil to Argentina, while the only other species (A. 

 africanus) is confined to West Africa. 



Of particular interest are the skinks (Scincidae), as I 

 explained (p. 124) that this family must be of very great 

 antiquity. Some of the genera certainly date back to Meso- 

 zoic times. Now, while skinks are abundant in North 

 America, the southern continent is almost entirely free 

 from these lizards. Those that live there, at any rate, 

 belong to a genus distinct from the northern one. Southern 

 Asia and Africa are the headquarters of this large family. 

 Only the single genus Mabliia has spread into South 

 America. Mabuia occurs principally in southern Asia, 

 Madagascar and Africa. A few species are known from 

 the Cape Verde islands on the west coast of Africa, 

 while one (Mabuia punctata), very closely allied to them, 

 has been met with on the island of Fernando de Noronha 

 off the east coast of South America and also in Guiana. 

 Three species are found in Brazil. A couple have passed 

 northward penetrating into Central America and one even 

 to the Greater Antilles. We have clear evidence here of 

 a former land connection between West Africa and South 

 America and of its having been utilised by the skink, Mabuia, 

 in traversing the Atlantic in a westward direction. 



The worm-like amphibian Dermophis has not yet been 



