ia, and New
Zealand on the other; but these unions were not synchronous any more than
the unions indicated between India and Australia, China and Australia,
China and North America, and India and Africa.

Pleurodont lizards are such as have the teeth attached by their sides {148}
to the inner surface of the jaw, in contradistinction to acrodont lizards,
which have the bases of their teeth anchylosed to the summit of the margin
of the jaw. Now pleurodont iguanian lizards abound in the South American
region; but nowhere else, and are not as yet known to inhabit any part of
the present continent of Africa. Yet pleurodont lizards, strange to say,
are found in Madagascar. This is the more remarkable, inasmuch as we have
no evidence yet of the existence in Madagascar of fresh-water fishes common
to Africa and South America.

[Illustration: INNER SIDE OF LOWER JAW OF PLEURODONT LIZARD.
(Showing the teeth attached to the inner surface of its side.)]

Again, that remarkable island Madagascar is the home of very singular and
special insectivorous beasts of the genera Centetes, Ericulus, and
Echinops; while the only other member of the group to which they belong is
Solenodon, which is a resident in the West Indian Islands, Cuba and Hayti.
The connexion, however, between the West Indies and Madagascar must surely
have been at a time when the great lemurine group was absent; for it is
difficult to understand the spread of such a form as Solenodon, and at the
same time the non-extension of the active lemurs, or their utter
extirpation, in such a congenial locality as the West Indian Archipelago.

The close connexion of South America and Australia is demonstrated (on the
Darwinian theory), not only from the marsupial fauna of both, but also from
the frogs and toads which respectively inhabit those regions. A truly
remarkable similarity and parallelism exist, however, between certain of
the same animals inhabiting South Western America and Europe. Thus Dr.{149}
Guenther has described[156] a frog from Chile by the name of cacotus, which
singularly resembles the European bombinator.

[Illustration: SOLENODON.]

Again of the salmons, two genera from South America, New Zealand, and
Australia, are analogous to European salmons.

In addition to this may be mentioned a quotation from Professor Dana, given
by Mr. Darwin,[157] to the effect that "it is certainly a wonderful fact
that New Zealand should have a closer resemblance in its cru