Fossils as Indicators of Continental Drift

Abstract

PROF. TRUEMAN, who has specially studied Carboniferous stratigraphy, makes an important addition to my brief article. Following Wegener, I merely mentioned that the theory of continental drift might explain the observed distribution of Carboniferous land and fresh-water life in the northern hemisphere. Prof. Trueman rightly emphasises the significance of the identity of succession of this life in widely separated areas. There can, indeed, be no doubt that identity in succession of whole faunas and floras in two distant regions is much more satisfactory proof of former connexion than the apparent identity of single groups to which I chiefly referred.