12 INDEX FAUNAE NOV^E ZEALANDI^. 



parts. But in either case the land communication must have 

 been broken up a very long time ago, because the Indo-Pacific 

 marine fauna differs so much from that of South America. 



The land mollusca of Polynesia furnish the best evidence for 

 a former Pacific continent. For, as Mr. H. Pilsbry has pointed out, 

 it is not a collection of waifs and strays, but a harmonious group of 

 a very early type. These land shells belonging to the genus 

 Endodonta occur all through the Polynesian Islands, New Zea- 

 land, Eastern Australia, New Guinea, the Philippine Islands, and 

 have an outlier in Ceylon. This outlier furnishes good evidence 

 that the ancient type at one time inhabited India, Burma, and 

 the Malay Peninsula, and that its migration has been from the 

 north and not from the south. But as this genus is not known to 

 extend to South America, the evidence fails to explain the South 

 American connection. 



The best zoological evidence for a former Antarctic continent 

 is furnished by the earth-worms belonging to the family Acantho- 

 drilidiz, which do not occur anywhere in the Northern Hemis- 

 phere, and are very scarce in Australia, but common in New 

 Zealand and New Caledonia. However, there is an outlier in 

 Madagascar which seems to imply a northern origin for the 

 family. The floras of the Antarctic Islands are also considered 

 as evidence of a former Antarctic continent, or group of Antarctic 

 islands 



OUTSIDE EVIDENCE. 



We cannot study the geographical relations of the New 

 Zealand fauna with any prospect of success without taking into 

 consideration the faunas of neighbouring countries, and there 

 are two subjects of special importance to which I must draw 

 attention. 



(i) The first is the fact that Australia shows a connection 

 with South America in which New Zealand does not share. We 

 see this in the Mammalia, the family of fresh-water tortoises called 

 Chelydidce, the extinct tortoise Miolanta, and in the snakes be- 

 longing to the families Typlopidcc and Ilysiidie^ as well as three 

 sub-families of the Colubridce ; also the frogs and the fresh-water 

 fishes Osteoglossum and Ceratodus, the latter having been found 

 fossil in Patagonia. In addition there are a large number of 

 insects, such as Gnostidcc, Buprestidce, and Longicornia^ among 

 the beetles, and Castniidce among the moths. And in this con- 



