526 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIII 



Liquidambar, Cinnamonium and Sassafras are met with. 

 Even Platanus, Populus, Quercus and others are repre- 

 sented. No wonder that Mr. Berry 34 came to the con- 

 elusion that a geographical connection must have existed 

 between North and South America during M id-Cretace- 

 ous times. He thought that the plants referred to had 

 spread southward from the north, while Professor Os- 

 born favors the view that his Eocene Armadillo had ad- 

 vanced from the south. 



Before concluding this short review on the evidences 

 pointing to an early Tertiary direct land bridge between 

 the southwestern portions of North and South America, 

 a few observations on the paleontology of Patagonia and 

 Chile may somewhat elucidate this interesting problem. 



Edentates occur in the oldest Tertiary deposits of 

 Patagonia or even pre-Tertiary, if Dr. Florentino 

 Ameghino 35 is correct in assigning a Mesozoic age to the 

 latter. The position which this savant has taken up and 

 so courageously defended has been almost universally 

 assailed. Professor Ameghino still holds that the now 

 famous fossiliferous strata of Santa Cruz, which have 

 yielded such a surprisingly rich harvest of mammalian 

 remains are of Eocene age, while the likewise terrestrial 

 Notostylops beds belong to the Cretaceous series. 



The great majority of geologists, on the other hand, 

 are of opinion that the Santa Cruzian deposits belong to 

 the Miocene and the Notostylops beds to the Eocene 

 period. 



These beds are separated by marine strata which have 

 been carefully investigated by the members of the Prince- 

 ton Expedition to Patagonia. The invertebrates col- 

 lected were described by Dr. Ortmann, 30 who considered 

 them as certainly of Miocene age. He thus concurs m 

 the opinion arrived at independently by the many eminent 

 paleontologists, that both the terrestrial deposits above 

 alluded to, the Notostylops and Santa Cruzian beds, are 

 of Tertiary age. 



"Ameghino, Flo., "Formations sedimentaires de Patagonie." 



