Show EXPERTS SEEK ORIGIN OF WEST INDIA ISLES 0 explorers Will Undertake to Solve Mystery Washington Light Light on the origin of the West Indies Is being sought by the Smithsonian Institution In Inthe inthe the he dark caves of Porto Rico nIco where GerrIt S S. S Miller Iiller Jr curator of mammals Is now seeking clews to extinct animal life Ufe Two theories as to the origin of these Islan Islands exist One Is that they hey once were part of a continuous ous land mass connected with the North American continent which was submerged In the ocean like the he fabulous Lost Atlantis with only Its mountains remaining above the ho water The other Is that they rose from the sea and were never connected with the continent The animals of ot this region afford major puzzles to biologists The peculiar mammal life some of whose vanished forms are seated by bones burled buried In cavern floors Smithsonian scientists hope may Illuminate the Ule moot theories of origin If U a land connection ever eyer existed It Is held the continental mammals would have wandered freely Into the West Indian area However none of the larger families families fam fam- Illes such as the bison or the bears are represented among the living forms or fossils Those who hold the continental theory explain this by arguing that the these e larger forms were creatures of the lowlands which perished when the land was Inundated They believe that only smaller creatures of the high mountains whose tops form the present West IVest Indies would have survived They ask if these Islands were of oceanic origin where did their animal life Ufe nate Unfortunately the present mam mammal mal life of the islands Islands according a to the Smithsonian experts may be beby beby beby by no means representative of what It once was At the time lime of Co Columbus Columbus' Columbus Columbus' Columbus Columbus' lumbus' lumbus first voyage there was a large human population part of ot whose sustenance was obtained by hunting Some of the most Interesting interesting in In- creatures had dIsappeared disappeared disappeared long before science became Interested In them It Is planned to reconstruct this extinct life In Inso Inso inso so far as possible from the cave deposits deposits deposits de de- posits In order to establish any possible possible possible pos pos- sible relationship The biology and archeology of the West Indies arc are considered among the major fields of ot Smithsonian Smithsonian Smith Smith- institution research This Is Millers Miller's third expedition to the West Indies on this quest |