Hypothetical Continents. 95 



result is the same as that arrived at from a consideration of 

 other classes of animals, namely, that there exists a large 

 number of genera and species peculiar to the island, certain 

 others common to it and to Africa, some allied to Asiatic types, 

 and a few having tropical American affinities. The proportions 

 differ, of course, in the different classes, owing to a difference 

 in the powers of locomotion and other causes. 



Dr. Hartlaub had previously hinted at the connection of 

 Madagascar with South-Eastern Asia, rather than with Africa ; 

 but Mr. Bates rightly observed that if the Asiatic element 

 justifies such a conclusion, the American ought also to be 

 taken into account. This suggestion, as we have seen, has 

 since received its complete development at- the hands of 

 Dr. Sclater. 



Mr. Bates^s own idea is fC that the island (whether previously 

 stocked with anti- African forms or not) was at one time much 

 more closely connected with Africa than it now is, and that 

 the time of connection was anterior to the date when the 

 continent became peopled by Simiidce, and the bulk of its present 

 mammalia; but posterior to the introduction of lemurs;" 

 With this opinion I entirely agree. 



Palaeontology is not yet in a position to furnish us with any 

 complete evidence on the question ; but some few facts are 

 known which seem to bear on it. The mammalia which 

 existed in eocene and miocene times include forms, such as 

 Didelphis, that are now restricted almost entirely to America, 

 with others now South African and Asiatic in their affinities ; 

 but these types, geographically distant at the present day, have 

 a very striking stratigraphical distribution in the tertiary 

 deposits of Europe. As examples I may quote the following : 

 In the eocene strata we have the genus Ghcerojpotamus most 

 nearly allied to the peccari of America ; a species Didelphis, 

 the opossums being now confined to that continent ; and such 

 genera as Goryphodon, Pliolophus, Hyracotherium, Palceo- 

 therium, Lophiodon, Anoplotherium, etc., all tapiroid pachy- 

 derms more or less allied to the tapirs of South America. 



Miocene deposits have also furnished the remains of some 

 interesting mammalia. I may especially quote two genera of 

 old-world monkeys from Eppelsheim, named respectively Plio- 

 pithecus and Dryopithecus, so that here we get the first indica- 

 tion of true eastern types. The Macrotherium, a gigantic sloth 

 allied to the old-world genus Manis was also obtained from the 

 same deposit. The genus Dinotherium, a miocene ally of the 

 tapirs, has hitherto been recognized only in strata of that period ; 

 but great interest is attached to it from its having been 

 obtained from a locality so far east as the Gulf of Cambay. 

 The genus Mastodon, which appeared first in miocene times, has 



