586 ZOOLOGY SECT. 



faunae of any two countries, the latter element must of course be 



/ 



carefully eliminated. 



The contrast between our two selected countries is further 

 emphasised when we compare the fauna of each with that of the 

 nearest continental area, the fauna of Great Britain with that of 

 the continent of Europe, the fauna of New Zealand with that of 

 Australia. 



With the exception of the Red Grouse (Lagopus scoticus) 

 perhaps the Coal Tit (Parus britannicu-s) and the Long-tailed Tit 

 {Parus rosea), and some fifteen species of fresh-water Fishes, the 

 British vertebrates are all found on the European Continent. On 

 the other hand, there are many European species of Mammals, 

 Birds, Reptiles, Amphibia, and Fishes, which do not occur in Great 

 Britain. The British fauna may, in fact, be described as an 

 isolated and somewhat impoverished section of the general 

 European fauna. 



Now contrast New Zealand with Australia. Of the two New 

 Zealand Bats, one (Chalinolobus morio) occurs also in Australia, the 

 other (Mystttcinct iuberculata) is endemic, that is, found nowhere 

 else. Australia, instead of having a Mammalian fauna comprising 

 only two Bats and a doubtful Rat, possesses a large number of 

 characteristic Mammals, all except the Bats, Rats, and Mice, and 

 the Dingo (Canis dingo) being either Monotremes or Marsupials. 

 Out of about 200 species of New Zealand Birds, fully 100 are 

 endemic : of the rest only about 50 are found in Australia. 

 Conversely, Australia has a large number of characteristic Birds, 

 belonging to families wholly unrepresented in New Zealand, such 

 as the Birds of Paradise and Bower Birds (Paradiseidce), Cockatoos 

 (Cc(cafuidcc},^Loimd-makers(Megapodiidw}, the Lyre Bird (Menura), 

 the Emu, and the Cassowary. Among Reptiles, Hatteria, i.e., the 

 entire order Rhynchocephalia, is endemic in New Zealand, as also 

 is the little Gecko Naultinus, while a small genus of Lizards, 

 Lygosoma, is common to the two countries. Australia, on the 

 other hand, besides possessing a large number of Lizards, such as 

 the Monitors, is remarkable for the great number of its Snakes, a 

 group quite unrepresented in New Zealand, and has two species of 

 Crocodiles and several of Chelonia. Among Fishes, the presence of 

 Ceratodus in Australia is specially remarkable. The fresh-water 

 Crayfishes of each country are endemic, those of New Zealand belong- 

 ing to the genus Paranephrops, those of Australia to Astacopsis and 

 Engceus. The majority of the Australian Earthworms belong to the 

 families Perichcetidcv and Cryptodrilidce, the latter including the 

 Giant Earthworm of Gippsland (Megascolides) ; the Acanthodrilidse 

 are represented, but are not dominant as in New Zealand. 



Thus, while the zoological resemblances between Great Britain 

 .and the Continent of Europe are so close as almost to amount to 



