PATAGONIA AND NEW ZEALAND 
425 
Professor Kolbe contributes a careful review of the subject 
from the point of view of the beetles (Coleoptera). After 
illustrating the intimate relationship that exists between 
southern South America and the Australian region, by means 
of the distribution of some of the Carabidae, Lucanidae, Scara- 
baeiidae, Buprestidae, Elateridae and other families of beetles, 
he comes to the conclusion that an Antarctic Continent must 
have existed in early Tertiary times. Professor Kolbe * be¬ 
lieves that this continent was joined to the southern parts of 
South America, New Zealand and Australia, and that some 
genera passed from the latter to America, whilst others 
travelled in the opposite direction. Although the affinities 
of South Africa and Madagascar with South America and 
Australia are much less pronounced, Professor Kolbe never¬ 
theless urges that these countries, too, were to some extent 
connected by land with the Antarctic Continent. 
Dr. Arldtf recently gave us an excellent summary of the 
most striking points in favour of the theory that southern 
South America and the Australian region were once con¬ 
nected by means of an Antarctic Continent. The theory meets 
with his entire approval, but he concurs with Professor 
Hutton and others in the belief that a second means of com¬ 
munication between xAustralia and South America was fur¬ 
nished by a mid-Pacific land bridge. 
Finally, Professor Chilton^: reviewed the problem from the 
point of view of New Zealand and the neighbouring sub- 
antarctic islands and their fauna and flora. His conclusions 
are strongly in favour of a former land connection by way of 
the Antarctic Continent between South America and New 
Zealand. 
1 have still to state my own opinion on this subject. That 
there was some kind of a direct land connection between Chile 
and New Zealand and Australia appears to me obvious. The 
strongest arguments in its favour are supplied by the distri¬ 
bution of the fresh-water mussels and the fresh-water cray¬ 
fishes. The genus Diplodon, one of the Unionidae, inhabits 
* Kolbe, H., “ Coleopteren der Magalhaensischen Sammelreise,” 
pp. 19—30 (compare also “Die Siidpolarkontinenttheorie 
f Arldt, Th., “ Bedeutung der Antarktis,” p. 370. 
f Chilton, C., “ Biological Relations of Sub-antarctic Islands,” p. S06. 
