284 C. HEDLEY. 
geologists, even by those who dispute its cause, to have formerly | 
prevailed in Arctic regions; a mild Antarctic climate should there- ; 
fore be admissible. Dr. Murray remarks! of the fossils collected 
by Capt. Jensen, close to the Antarctic Circle, that they “are 
probably of a Lower Tertiary age, and they indicate a warmer 
temperature than now prevails in these high southern latitudes.” 
A cursory survey of a collection of Eocene Mollusca from the 
Muddy Creek beds of Victoria, suggests to me that warmer seas ne 
then prevailed. Its wealth of Cyprea and Voluta point toa — 
tropical climate. I observe there tubes of Kuphus, a genus now 
ranging from Sumatra to the Solomons, whose evidence is corrob- 
orated by extinct allies of Nautilus. That New Zealand once 
extended very far south of its present position to or perhaps 
beyond the Macquarie Islands, is granted by all who have investi- 
gated the subject.2 Possibly this southward extension was 
synchronous with the northward extension indicated? by the range 
of Placostylus. That this southward extension of New Zealand 
did not, during the marsupial exodus, actually touch the highway 
between Tasmania and South America, I infer from the fact that 
such passengers as the venomous snakes, extinct Palimnarelus 
cystignathous frogs, monotremes and marsupials, failed to — r 
in New Zealand. The southward prolongation of Tasmania ™ 
the direction of Royal Company Island is suggested by the 
Tasmanian axes described‘ by Prof. David. 
The evidence collected tends to show Antarctica as an wee 
area, at one time dissolving into an archipelago, at another res ir 
ing itself into a continent. 
How this would affect the marine shallow water fauna has not 
been previously considered. Under the circumstances | have 
1 Notes on an important Geographical Discovery in the A 
- Regions—Scottish Geographical Magazine, Vol. x., p. 195. 
2 Vide Blanchard, Comptes Rendus, 1882, p. 386. 
3 Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., (2) vit., p. 335. 
* Presidential Addresses, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., (2) VIII» P- - 
Vol. x., p. 155. 
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