is, however, the one which has been most
generally adopted.] Professor Huxley has suggested on palaeontological
grounds that a land connexion existed in this region (or rather
between Abyssinia and India) during the Miocene epoch. From what has
been said above it will be seen that I infer its existence from a far
earlier date.[9] With regard to its depression, the only present
evidence relates to its northern extremity, and shows that it was in
this region, later than the great trap-flows of the Dakhan. These
enormous sheets of volcanic rock are remarkably horizontal to the east
of the Ghats and the Sakyadri range, but to the west of this they
begin to dip seawards, so that the island of Bombay is composed of the
higher parts of the formation. This indicates only that the depression
to the westward has taken place in Tertiary times; and to that extent
Professor Huxley's inference, that it was after the Miocene period, is
quite consistent with the geological evidence."

After proceeding at some length to instance the close relationship of
many of the fauna in the lands under consideration (Lion, Hyaena,
Jackal, Leopard, Antelope, Gazelle, Sand-grouse, Indian Bustard, many
Land Molusca, and notably the Lemur and the Scaly Anteater) the writer
proceeds as follows:--

"Palaeontology, physical geography and geology, equally with the
ascertained distribution of living animals and plants, offer thus
their concurrent testimony to the former close connexion of Africa and
India, including the tropical islands of the Indian Ocean. This
Indo-Oceanic land appears to have existed from at least early Permian
times, probably (as Professor Huxley has pointed out) up to the close
of the Miocene epoch;[10] and South Africa and Peninsular India are
the existing remnants of that ancient land. It may not have been
absolutely continuous during the whole of this long period. Indeed,
the Cretaceous rocks of Southern India and Southern Africa, and the
marine Jurassic beds of the same regions, prove that some portions of
it were, for longer or shorter periods, invaded by the sea; but any
break of continuity was probably not prolonged; for Mr. Wallace's
investigations in the Eastern Archipelago have shown how narrow a sea
may offer an insuperable barrier to the migration of land animals. In
Palaeozoic times this land must have been connected with Australia, and
in Tertiary times with Malayana, since the Malayan forms with African
alliances are i