Page:The origin of continents and oceans - Wegener, tr. Skerl - 1924.djvu/105

Rh singularly large number of threads of affinity are spun by them across the Atlantic Ocean in the various latitudes. In the South Atlantic these relations refer more to the older periods (Chilotacæ, Glossoscolecinæ-Microchatinæ, Ocnerodrilinæ, the earlier Microchætinæ, Trigastrinæ), whilst the North Atlantic is not only spanned by the probably older genus, Sparganophilus, but also by the undoubtedly recent genera of Lumbricidæ, which are distributed continuously from Japan to Portugal, and at the same time occur as indigenous species on the other side of the Atlantic on the east, but not on the west, of the United States.

The following table, taken from Arldt (v.s., p. 73, etc.), is very instructive on the question of the North Atlantic bridge, and indicates the percentage figures of identical reptiles and mammals on both sides:—