New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-07
GREAT CONTINENT LOST.
,.xn ONCE STRETCH BETWEEN
AUSTRALIA. AFRICA AND SOUTH
AMERICA?
,,,s,, SCIENTISTS INGENIOUS THEORY
FACTS DRAWN FROM BIOLOGY "oi"Ni
AND GEOLOGY TO PROVE IL

snv.
."sareds even thousands OF fee' a"o'o VI. SO
nVa" ,,,hsr have boon submerged beneath the
JIG Some Of these regions 'noec"' "'e VIC
-; TO have undergone not nerei! ov % W.,
~. sereral such changes OF level III. s'e"'
H. chalk cliffs OF England are composeo VI ,ne
tine Of minute marine creatures aePos"e"
80 an ocean bottom years ago ie' pe'o" ,"e
aVNH' .s formation lie other strata OF rocks,
s;cb give evidence OF having oech aooVe wa'e'
'. .oae previous period. This is oniy 0ns Oh nu-
-o,s instances in regard 10 WHICH VIC se'e"-
M .o,,ain no doubt But there are others
tis's ' ,,, cts are not so well established. ami
',,.h conjecture and fgncy ate the main
foundations ... rae o,ce , large
,.,.,d or continent lying 10 the westward OF the
s'-si.e Of GIBRALTAR. the Atlantis OF fi"'o Is
s,o,i,r h;notheSls but scarcely more. A.
'asV''''. -, ,-oc,tous arguments have been ad
, j.. o. favor And this. perhaps. Is all that
~ 10 said CT the suggestion that there Was once
oo,,;rent in high southern ATTITUDES lar more
.,,x,va Than the present Antarctic continent
% ,.cent vorrne of Smithsonian publications
49,, ,aea Is revived by an English naturalist
- n J-orbcs who had previously written or
-. ,,,oc, for THE For,nsghtly Review me
-. ~ testimony which he presents Is certaih'y
~..s,rg IN spite Of certain Inherent weaknesses
"s~ ,rso-y and his discussions Of the matter
80 -, ,ra more interest because just now
- 4. 4 great deal OF talk about fresh eNp'o'a-
80 ~ me Antarctic region.
TUE land BRIDGE THEORY.
-, tho many reasons for suspecting that the
..,,rh celebrated Atlantis was once a reain! Is
49,, ~smarkablc rescmblances nave oeeh o'S0o'-
sreJ between certain types OF plants common Ia
- On The Tertiary period and others now
-,d IN the eastern part OF this country i'oieS-
- Herr and Unger. who detected inns sini'"'"F'
"a he hvpoth,.s!s Of a land bridge from con
,,,r, TO continent a possible eNpand"on Vi
49, facts In like manner the notion that mere
- existei above sea level, great coh'ili'H.
,,,n -oocbcd 10 Australia. South Africa ana
~ America Is advanced the NEST plausible
vsv o: explaining the curious paraiieis observer
-, ,fa Man, and animal life OF tines" now
r,,ov separated lands and some ad)acen! lslahdS'
~. ~ The most convincing classes OF eNiuei'S "9
. "a, descent Of existing types OF animals from CO.
,, sr,.st,rs Of he very far past IL found IN en-
,,rcoa,.al research. In its earliest stages OF ue-
vs,arnent the unborn horse or sheep goes '"'oue'
= ,-,rs 81 It's mature but less perfectly organ
al r,,gerltors of ancient days. Hence the ''""-
.. s,os IN Tie parallels referred to something moro
,i,n A. ac.lacn, To him they mean Doo' r''"-
,,r.rip !, thus becomes necessary LOT MN 10 pro
,ile routes for rlgIntion from common or'h-
,loco Thus these odd-looking animals. hAt-wav
,ua, the horse aud elephant. the tap!rs. are TO-
ssv found only in South America ana bornco ana
e.,,,,,ra II they had the same ancestors ases
80 how aja the descendants get separated" Did
.o,re Of the more adventurous of them swim san
~ hat az through
ersa, nar, IF Mr. Fcrbcs's paper Is devoted 10
In,,r, on, the observed similarties in question
IL begi,s with the ostriches Giant birds OF this
eroun Lrown rs meas. existed in New-Zeaand IN
great abundance thousands perhaps millions Oh
years ago Their bones are found IN great DOGS
end caves and In the Kitchen middens or the
natives .ustraiIa also had n bird Of the same
class possessing hercuean proportions. but DIVER
ing in details from the moa. So ala MadaSasoNr'
BIZ, the hgges; Of them all. so far as We can Judge
from fossil remains was The enormous Brontornis
OF Patagonia
THEY MUST HAVE GONE BY LAND
Inasnuch az these birds could no. fly any more
than the modern ostrich. emu or cassoWHry'
suitable land route appears TO be necessary to ex
,,on ,h.,r singular distribution The penguin Is
srother bird whose wings are of no practical use.
lis sole mode Of travel is a solemn waddie. Ana
yet all over the southern hemisphere, Houth OF 'he
for,ioth parallel these droll creatures abound TO-
dav although the species of different ISLANDS ana
continents reveal trng dissinarit.es. II IS curl
or. houever tina. they should all be confined TO
one hemisphere and that fossil remains OF me pen
cun should not have been found elsewhere IMAM III
NewXeai Land and Patagonia
loss consplc,io,s illustration OF the phenomenon
which Mr. Forbes discusses is ahorde" oy me
"shcath-buls" which are dstinctiYcly land birhs
..ircanable u undertaking Journey Of any great
duration across the sea whore they could hnd noth
ing 20 support them: yet they are iouno so Tar as
:. known in Fucgia and the neghboiihg FalNahu
Islands but not elsewhere till the far-on Croze'
Islands and Kerguelen Land dn the Southerh iha-
Inn Ocean are reached" Pecuarties OF plum
age characteristic Of certain Australian, fapuah
and South American parrots. arc citcd as aNorGiig
another link in the chain OF evidence.
on previous occasion Mr. Forbes endeavored
70 show that Eew-Zeaiand Il now but small part
OF a once larger island reaching southwark TO the
Macouarie group and nor,heastward 20 the Firs
@,1l,- vSI1e No Er
the eastward are also. he thinks. an unsubmerged
portion Of what was formerly more extensive
region. The opinion is entertained IN reeard
10 the Seychelles Bourbon. Rodriguez ana Aaurl-
tius "a group called the Mascarenos. lying TO the
eastward Of Madagascar. The writer now points
out that there wood-hens peculiar 10 this last
mentioned archipelago and the islands near New
Zealand. and observed nowhere else In the world
Yet the Mascarenes between 120 and 100 de-
rrces OF longitude away from the other habitat OF
these birds
Again. the Fregilupus q staring found only in
Bourbon has us only known congencr in the hula
Of New-Zeaiand. Another bond between the two
.egions il the fact that they both once had
tain unique type Of r.ghtess blue water-hen.
how extinct. South America is not represented In
those three analoeies. Put that continent. well
a. N'adagascar and Australia affords the nearest
allies 20 still different bird genera the Acanthido-
s,ta and Xen!cus OF New-Zealand. In connection
With this Mr. Forbes refers TO HuAley's division Of
birds in consequence OF structural pecularties
into those OF the Northern Hemisphere cor Arcto-
epa) and The Southern tNotoefal. Minute ana.
tOIl,cal evidence collected by Professor W r.
Parker and bearing this point Is also cited
The piping crows of Australia are pronounced 10
he cousins of the South American creepcrs: tho
wood swallows OF the former region are considered
connecting link between the ground thrnshes OF
the Maayan Archipelago and the south American
ant thrushes while close afini.ics arc pointed out
between the warblers OF Australia and South
America.
THE MARSuPlAI.S TESTIMONY
Having finished up this long archaeological chap
ter. ar. Forbes takes np other forms of animal