THE THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF THE ANT- 
ARCTIC FAUNAS AND FLORAS. 
ARNOLD E. ORTMANN. 
WHILE preparing a report on the fossil Tertiary invertebrates 
of Patagonia collected by the Princeton expedition, the writer 
was led to collect the literature on the subject of the resem- 
blance of the southern faunas and floras (of South America, 
South Africa, Australia, and the Antarctic islands), and was 
very much surprised by the vague and sometimes incorrect 
rep tations of the existing theories relating to this fascinat- 
ing zoógeographical question. Many authors do not quote their 
predecessors at all, while others refer to them only in a very 
general way, occasionally misstating their views or giving 
incorrect or defective quotations. I have, therefore, tried to 
collect everything that has been written on this topic, and 
think it will be worth while to give here a condensed report 
on the subject. 
One of the first to call attention to the resemblance of 
southern life, in this case to that of the flora, and certainly the 
first to advance a theory, was Hooker! He is of the opinion 
that we could possibly explain the fact of the existence of 
identical plants in southern lands widely distant from each 
other by the assumption that there was once a connection of 
these parts by land. This theory, first expressed very cau- 
tiously, and at that time much disputed, was again more ener- 
getically propounded by Hooker,? and, in the last paper, with 
reference to the Darwinian view of the origin of species. 
In the course of time this theory was almost forgotten, at 
1 Hooker, J. D. The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H. M. Discovery Ships 
Erebus and Terror (Flora Antarctica), Pt. ii (1847), p- 211- | 
? Hooker, J. D. Introductory Essay to the Flora of New Zealand (1853), 
Pp. xxiii ff. ; and On the Flora of Australia; its Origin, Affinities, and Distribu- 
tion, Botany of the Antarctic Expedition, Pt. iii, vol. i (1859), pp. xvii and civ. 
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