Chapter 25

ANCIENT CONTINENTAL ISLANDS: THE MADAGASCAR GROUP

Remarks on Ancient Continental Islands--Physical Features of Madagascar--Biological Features of Madagascar--Mammalia--Reptiles--Relation of Madagascar to Africa--Early History of Africa and Madagascar--Anomalies of Distribution and how to Explain Them--The Birds of Madagascar as Indicating a Supposed Lemurian Continent--Submerged Islands Between Madagascar and India--Concluding Remarks on "Lemuria"--The Mascarene Islands--The Comoro Islands--The Seychelles Archipelago--Birds of the Seychelles--Reptiles and Amphibia--Fresh-water Fishes--Land Shells--Mauritius, Bourbon, and Rodriguez--Birds--Extinct Birds and their Probable Origin--Reptiles--Flora of Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands--Curious Relations of Mascarene Plants--Endemic Genera of Mauritius and Seychelles--Fragmentary Character of the Mascarene Flora--Flora of Madagascar Allied to that of South Africa--Preponderance of Ferns in the Mascarene Flora--Concluding Remarks on the Madagascar Group

_Pages_ 411-449