The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1884-08-30
THE FIRST ANIMAL LIFE.
Did it Begin Where GreeIy Has Been

A theory has been enunciated tina
the poles we're first fitted to produces
life, which consequently commenced
at the northern and southern extremi
ties of the globe, developing independ
emily, but to certain extent CORES
pondingly, since conditions were
similar. By the secular cooling of the
globe the poles ultimately became un.
fitted to support life, and such forms as
did not perish in the changes of the
earth's surface slowly migrated toward
the equator, changing in the course Of
ages, and ultimately giving rise to 9
fauna which, over most of the globe,
consists os mixture of northern and
southern forms.
Many facts derived from the north
ern hemisphere lend support to this
theory, and the southern hemisphere
has recently added new facts which
tell in the same direction. The ami
mails of the northern hemisphere are
still almost identical throughout the
worlds circuit. The same families
and even the same species of mammals
and birds are common to the north OF
the Old World and of the New. To
give few examples, the elk or moose,
the reindeer, the beaver, the lynx, the
wolf, the fox, of Europe and Asia are
specifically identical with those of
America. The bison of America is
closely allied to the aurochs OF Europe,
the brown bear OF Europe to our own
grizzly, the stag to the wapiti or elk,
and so on.
Remains of mammals now regarded
as tropical-such as the elephant, hip
popotamus, hyena, lion, etc.-are COM
mon in the tertiary strata of tempera-
ture and even Arctic regions. This is
proof of a southern migration when
climate changed. In the southern part
of South America, in desolate Pata-
gonia, have been found mammalian re-
mains which tend to show that the ter
tiary fauna of Patagonia preceded that
of the Argentine Republic, to the north
of it. Forms of theIpampers are there,
but are somewhat more generalized,
as though older. Hooker has shown
that seventy-seven species of plants are
common to South America, New Zea-
land and Tasmania. A small family of
fishes (Galaxd@) and the marsupialia
(kangaroos, wombat, opossum, etc.
are Australian and South American.
A sort of submarine plateau connects
Staten Island (part of the Terra del
Fuego Archipelago with South Geor-
gia and other Antarctic lands, and it
seems not unlikely that great Antarc-
tic continent once existed, the remains
Of which are Australia, New Zealand,
etc., on the one hand, and Patagonia
On the other. In Australia the marsu-
pialia multiplied, and, spreading north
ward, mingled with the boreal fauna
hat had been driven southwark. In
South America the marsupialia did not
greatly multiply, though they spread,
lfter the upheaval of the Isthmus of |
Panama, into North America, where |
hey are represented by the opossum.
The edenta (sloths, armadillos, ant
,aters and their relations) first appear
ID in Patagonia in the mIocene period
md spreading northward, became the
animals of South Amer
ca. Edentates (the hardware or cape
nteater, and the pangolins or scaly
nteaters) occur also in Africa, which
7as probably once connected south
fdTu Will IuO duClcub AuItICIlC COuLl- |
ent.
In many cases the animals of north
IN origin, which are the more uumer-
us, can be distinguished from the
but in other cases we cannot
them, since on the one hand,
nimals which naturalists place in the
ame family on account of resem-
lances in structure may very possibly
ave had distinct ancestry, and on
lie other hand, the northern forms,
hich evidently predominant, have not
My varied greatly in the course of
yes, but have penetrated far toward
le southern extremities of the conti-
ants. As regards the northern hemi-
here, the resemblance between the
shes, insects and mollusca of the old
orld and of the new are even more
riking than those of the higher ami
ais.