The Influence of Geological and Climatological Factors on the Distribution of Non-Marine Fossil Reptiles and Stegocephalia

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Abstract
Introduction The object of this paper is to determine how far the distribution of Palæozoic and Mesozoic terrestrial Tetrapods was influenced by geological and climatological factors. In the first place, it is necessary to enumerate the known identical or closely allied poikilothermous Tetrapods in different parts of the globe in chronological order, and to investigate how far this distribution of terrestrial animals is in accord with the extension of former oceans. Next, there is the question of the land-bridges used by these animals; and, finally, it must be shown to what extent climatological factors were concerned. In this investigation, terrestrial vertebrates are much more important than invertebrates, for the structure of vertebrate fossils gives much more information about their biology and their possibilities of migration than does the structure of most invertebrates, especially that of the ammonites, which are, nevertheless, the fossils particularly favoured by geologists. The first two parts of the paper, therefore, dealing severally with the characteristic pre- and post-Liassic Tetrapods, are purely stratigraphical; the next part deals with the palæogeography of the globe as indicated by marine faunas; and the fourth part discusses tectonics. To some extent, the general ideas put forward in the fourth part are new, so that in that part several facts are mentioned which have nothing to do with the dispersal of the Tetrapods, but are weighty arguments supporting the new views on tectonics. The best proof of the soundness of these views will be found in the palæoclimatological part, for there is