600 ZOOLOGY SECT. 



Insect! vora (Hedgehog, Shrew, and Mole), and fifteen species of 

 Bats. Moreover, within the historic period, the Wolf, Bear, Wild 

 Boar, Reindeer, and Beaver were among the wild animals of 

 Britain. 



In New Zealand, on the other hand, the only land Mammals 

 found in the islands previous to the advent of Europeans were two 

 species of Bats (Chalinolobus morio and Mystacina tuberculata), 

 the Maori Dog, which was certainly introduced by the Maories 

 who colonised New Zealand from some of the Pacific Islands not 

 many centuries ago, and the Maori Eat (Mus maorum), which 

 perhaps owes its introduction to the same source. With the excep- 

 tion, then, of Seals, two Bats, and perhaps a Rat, are the only 

 native Mammals of New Zealand. 



The Birds of the two countries also offer a marked contrast. 

 Great Britain has no native Ratitse ; in New Zealand there are 

 now living five species of Apteryx, while within the historic 

 period three or four hundred years ago or less there lived in 

 the two islands half-a-dozen genera, and some five-and-twenty 

 species of Moas (Dmornithidee). Great Britain has no Parrots ; 

 New Zealand has two species of Nestor, seven Parrakeets of the 

 genus Cyanorhamphus, and the extraordinary Ground Parrot or 

 Kakapo (Stringops). On the other hand the Finches (Fringillidse) 

 are wholly absent in New Zealand, but abundantly represented in 

 Great Britain. Moreover, New Zealand is remarkable for the 

 large number of flightless Birds included in its fauna : besides 

 the Kiwis and Moas, there are Stringops (Ground Parrot) ; Ocy- 

 dromus, Cabalus, and Notornis (Rallidse) ; Nesonetta (the flightless 

 Duck of the Auckland Islands) ; besides the extinct Giant Goose 

 (Cnemiornis) and Giant Rail (Aptornis). In Great Britain none 

 of the Birds are actually flightless. 



As to Reptiles, the difference is less striking, but is still suffi- 

 ciently marked, the most important facts being the entire absence 

 of Snakes in New Zealand and the presence of Sphenodon, the only 

 existing representative of the Rhynchocephalia. Lizards occur in 

 both countries, and in both Crocodilia are wholly absent, and 

 Chelonia occur only as occasional visitants. 



Great Britain possesses four species of Tailed Amphibia (Newts), 

 and the same number of Frogs and Toads. In New Zealand 

 Urodeles are entirely absent, and there are only two rare species 

 of Frogs. 



The fresh-water Fishes of Britain are numerous and varied ; the 

 most important are the various species of Salmo (Salmon and 

 Trout), the Perch, Carp, Grayling, Pike, Eels, &c. In New Zealand 

 there are only Eels, a small salmonoid, Retropinna, not found else- 

 where, several species of Galaxias, an exclusively Australasian, 

 South African, and South American Physostome, and a small 

 indigenous genus (Neochanna) of the same family. The differences 



