fact that it was probably on this
continent that animals of the Lemuroid type were developed.

"This," writes A. R. Wallace, "is undoubtedly a legitimate and highly
probable supposition, and it is an example of the way in which a study
of the geographical distribution of animals may enable us to
reconstruct the geography of a bygone age....

"It [this continent] represents what was probably a primary zoological
region in some past geological epoch; but what that epoch was and what
were the limits of the region in question, we are quite unable to say.
If we are to suppose that it comprised the whole area now inhabited by
Lemuroid animals, we must make it extend from West Africa to Burmah,
South China and Celebes, an area which it possibly did once
occupy."[4]

"We have already had occasion," he elsewhere writes, "to refer to an
ancient connection between this sub-region (the Ethiopian) and
Madagascar, in order to explain the distribution of the Lemurine type,
and some other curious affinities between the two countries. This view
is supported by the geology of India, which shows us Ceylon and South
India consisting mainly of granite and old-metamorphic rocks, while
the greater part of the peninsula is of tertiary formation, with a few
isolated patches of secondary rocks. It is evident, therefore, that
during much of the tertiary period,[5] Ceylon and South India were
bounded on the north by a considerable extent of sea, and probably
formed part of an extensive Southern Continent or great island. The
very numerous and remarkable cases of affinity with Malaya, require,
however, some closer approximation with these islands, which probably
occurred at a later period. When, still later, the great plains and
tablelands of Hindostan were formed, and a permanent land
communication effected with the rich and highly developed
Himalo-Chinese fauna, a rapid immigration of new types took place, and
many of the less specialised forms of mammalia and birds became
extinct. Among reptiles and insects the competition was less severe,
or the older forms were too well adapted to local conditions to be
expelled; so that it is among these groups alone that we find any
considerable number of what are probably the remains of the ancient
fauna of a now submerged Southern Continent."[6]

After stating that during the whole of the tertiary and perhaps during
much of the secondary periods, the great land masses of the earth were
probably situat