INTR O D UCT1ON. 1 9 



Islands is also evidence that no glacial epoch has taken place in 

 the Southern Hemisphere. 



The large proportion of shallow-water Miocene fossils common 

 to Patagonia, New Zealand, and Australia proves that either in 

 the Eocene or Oligocene, shallow water, warmer than it is at 

 present, extended through the South Pacific ; but as none of the 

 Miocene mammals nor land birds of Patagonia passed to New 

 Zealand, there could not have been a continuous land connection. 

 Probably it was a series of coral islands. This will account for 

 the spread of the penguins, which are Oligocene in New Zealand 

 and Miocene in Patagonia, but it is doubtful whether it will 

 account for the insects. Certainly it cannot explain the con- 

 nection between the Vertebrata of Australia and those of South 

 America. 



OUTLYING ISLANDS. 



Of the outlying islands the Snares and Bounty Islands are 

 composed entirely of granite, and no doubt at one time they 

 formed part of New Zealand. The Kermadecs, Antipodes, and 

 Auckland Islands are entirely volcanic. The Chatham Islands 

 are volcanic, with some contemporaneous fossiliferous limestones 

 and tuffs of early Miocene age, resting on a low platform of 

 ancient schistose rocks, which form the northern portion of the 

 largest island. Consequently these islands were formed in the 

 Miocene period. 



Campbell Island is also volcanic, on a basis of chalky limestone 

 and tuffaceous beds, from which a few fossils have been obtained. 

 The evidence is not sufficient to form any decided opinion, but 

 the fossiliferous beds appear to be Oligocene in age. 



Antipodes Island is formed largely of stratified volcanic tuffs, 

 and the island appears to be a submarine volcano which has been 

 subsequently elevated. 



The geological structure of Macquarie Island is unknown to 

 me. 



The faunas of the Kermadecs, Antipodes, Snares, and Mac- 

 quarie Island are very imperfectly known, except the birds. The 

 only land animal on Bounty Islands is hchyroplectron isolation, 

 an orthopterous insect, which was found by Captain Fairchild 

 when turning over large stones to build the provision depot. The 

 Bounty Islands have no vegetation except sea-weeds. 



A Shining Cuckoo (Chalcococcyx), in an exhausted state, was 



