ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lxi 
Looking at the present terrestrial fauna of Australia, it appears 
to me to be very probable that it is essentially a remnant of the 
fauna of the Triassic, or even of an earlier, age *; in which case 
Australia must at that time have been in continuity with the Arc- 
togeeal continent. 
But now comes the further inquiry, Where was the highly 
differentiated Sauropsidan fauna of the Trias in Paleozoic times ? 
The supposition that the Dinosaurian, Crocodilian, Dicynodontian, 
and Plesiosaurian types were suddenly created at the end of the 
Permian epoch may be dismissed, without further consideration, as 
a monstrous and unwarranted assumption. The supposition that all 
these types were rapidly differentiated out of Lacertilia, in the time 
represented by the passage from the Paleozoic to the Mesozoic for- 
mation, appears to me to be hardly more credible, to say nothing of 
the indications of the existence of Dinosaurian forms in the Permian 
rocks which have already been obtained. 
For my part, I entertain no sort of doubt that the Reptiles, Birds, 
and Mammals of the Trias are the direct descendants of Reptiles, 
Birds, and Mammals which existed in the latter part of the Paleozoic 
epoch, but not in any area of the present dry land which has yet 
been explored by the geologist. 
This may seem a bold assumption, but it will not appear un- 
warrantable to those who reflect upon the very small extent of the 
earth’s surface which has hitherto exhibited the remains of the great 
Mammalian fauna of the Eocene times. In this respect, the Permian 
land Vertebrate fauna appears to me to be related to the Triassic 
much as the Eocene is to the Miocene. ‘Terrestrial reptiles have 
been found in Permian rocks only in three localities, in some spots 
of France, and recently of England, and over a more extensive area 
in Germany. Who can suppose that the few fossils yet found in 
these regions give any sufficient representation of the Permian 
fauna ? 
It may be said that the Carboniferous formations demonstrate the 
existence of a vast extent of dry land in the present dry-land area, 
and that the supposed terrestrial Paleozoic Vertebrate Fauna ought 
to have left its remains in the Coal-measures, especially as there is 
now reason to believe that much of the coal was formed by the accu- 
mulation of spores and sporangia on dry land. But if we consider 
the matter more closely, I think that this apparent objection loses its 
force. It is clear that, during the Carboniferous epoch, the vast 
area of land which is now covered by Coal-measures must have been 
undergoing a gradual depression. The dry land thus depressed must, 
therefore, have existed, as such, before the Carboniferous epoch—in 
other words, in Devonian times—and its terrestrial population may 
neyer have been other than such as existed during the Devonian, 
or some previous epoch, although much higher forms may have been 
developed elsewhere. 
* Since this Address was read, Mr. Krefft has sent us news of the discovery 
in Australia of a freshwater fish of strangely Palseozoic aspect, and appa- 
rently a Ganoid intermediate between Dipterus and Lepidosiren. 
