1 6 INDEX FAUN^ NOV^E ZEALANDI&. 



Australian-South American connection, as shown by the frogs 

 and the parrots. The latter are a group of birds which probably 

 originated in the Malay Archipelago or Australia and spread to 

 South America. According to Professor W. K. Parker, the 

 Australian Magpies (Gymnorhiza), and the Wood-swallows 

 (Arfamus), and even some of the Fly-catchers (Petroica) are 

 more closely related to South American birds than to any others.* 

 And Professor Huxley says that there is a close relation between 

 the Megapodida and the Cracidcz of South America.! But all 

 these relations are distant, and imply a very ancient connection. 



GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE. 



We will now see what light the geology of New Zealand 

 throws on these questions. 



In the Triassic period New Zealand appears to have formed 

 part of the eastern coast line of a continent which probably 

 included Australia and Tasmania. In the middle of the Jurassic 

 period the date is not very certain, for the fossils have not yet 

 been properly examined this state of things changed, and the 

 range of mountains running from Stewart Island to the East 

 Cape was formed, and with it the branch range from Taupo to 

 the North Cape. From that time forward the connection with 

 Australia has been slight, as proved by the difference in the 

 fossils, so that we may assume that the Tasman Sea was formed 

 at the same time as the New Zealand Alps, and that it has been 

 in existence ever since. Any subsequent direct land communica- 

 tion between New Zealand on the one hand and Tasmania or 

 Australia on the other, is highly improbable. 



This mountain chain is of the Alpine type, and has a granitic 

 core, consequently when it was first formed it probably extended 

 further on each side than it does now ; indeed, we see that the 

 north-western portion has been largely removed by denudation. 

 Since its formation it has been twice partially submerged, New 

 Zealand in each case being reduced to a cluster of islands. The 

 first of these depressions was in the Upper Cretaceous, the 

 second in the Oligocene and Miocene periods. We also find 

 evidence that the land stood lower than it does now in the 



' Trans. Zool. Soc. x. p. 251, &c. 

 t Pro. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 296. 



