1 8 INDEX FAUN& NOV& ZEALANDI&. 



New Zealand, where it became extinct before the Pliocene. 

 Murex and Trophon, both of which are Eocene in Australia, did 

 not reach New Zealand until the Pliocene period. This appear- 

 ance of shells in Australia before they are known in New Zealand 

 shows that a large part of our present marine fauna reached us in 

 Miocene and Pliocene times from Australia and not from an 

 Antarctic continent. 



In the coal-measures of Moreley Creek, Southland probably 

 of Eocene age a Unio ( U. inflatus) has been found which may 

 have been derived from the Cretaceous Unio already mentioned. 

 This species, however, appears to have become extinct without 

 leaving any descendants. Probably it was killed off by the sub- 

 mergence in the Oligocene and Miocene periods. 



In the lignite beds of the Dunstan in Otago probably of 

 older Pliocene age another Unio has been found which appears 

 to belong to our recent species, Diplodon aucklandicus, which is 

 only a variety of D. menziesii. This species has its nearest allies 

 in New Guinea, so that its existence in New Zealand in the older 

 Pliocene is evidence that during that period New Zealand was in 

 direct communication with New Guinea. 



Under a lava stream at Timaru a few bones of a small moa 

 (Anomalopteryx antiqud] and of an Apteryx have been found, 

 which are either upper Miocene or lower Pliocene in age, and 

 other Moa bones have been found in Pliocene beds near Napier, 

 and footprints of Pliocene or Pleistocene moas have been found 

 near Gisborne, but no trace of them has hitherto been found in 

 either the Miocene or Eocene coal-measures. 



The question whether or not a glacial epoch occurred in the 

 southern hemisphere similar to that of the north, has an important 

 bearing on the distribution of animals and plants. So far as 

 New Zealand is concerned, there can be no doubt but that the 

 glaciers of the South Island were formerly of much greater 

 dimensions than they are now. But there is no evidence that 

 they reached the sea, although some of the old moraines are now 

 below the sea level, and there is no palreontological evidence of 

 a colder climate in the Pliocene or Pleistocene periods than 

 exists now. On the contrary, the evidence points to a gradual 

 cooling ever since the Miocene period. On the whole it seems 

 probable that the former extension of the glaciers was due to the 

 land standing 3000 or 4000 feet higher in the older Pliocene 

 times than it does now. The very distinct flora of the Antarctic 



