BY CHARLES HEDLBY. 399 



there flowed a return current of Antarctic life, which though 

 feebler in lower latitudes may Ije traced up to New Guinea 



It is to be noted that the Antarctic fauna which passed over 

 New Zealand is quite distinct from, and probably far older than, 

 •that other Antarctic element, the Euronotian, which reached 

 Australia through Tasmania.* 



Returning to a closer examination of the Malayan or Oriental 

 stock, it seems probable that in its passage through New Guinea 

 it recruited an Australian company, of which the Cuscus is a 

 significant example. The spread of this element as far as the 

 Solomons is so recent as to be obvious, and has been generally 

 .recognised. Beyond this point the progress of Malayan life is 

 less distinct, and has given rise to diverse views. The importance 

 of the classification of the Fijian fauna, in connection with that 

 ■of the Central Pacific, warrants an attentive consideration of its 

 relations with western continental lands. 



From geological data it is evident that the Fijian Group has 

 undergone much recent upheaval; previous to which it certainly 

 underwent great subsidence. Prior to that subsidence, it is 

 generall}^ admitted that the group stood at a level sufiiciently 

 high to unite such outlying islands as Kandavu to the principal 

 masses of Vanua Levu and Viti Levu. Such a union is indicated 

 by the close afiinity of their land molluscan fauna, and some 

 measure of its antiquity is afforded by the specific differentiation 

 which has arisen between corresponding species which represent 

 each the other in different islands, as the various Trochomoiyha 

 and Placostylus do. 



The writer was the first to contend that this former elevation 

 not only sufficed to amalgamate the separate islands, but to join 

 the whole to the Solomon Group, f 



* A few representatives in the West Pacific of tropical South American 

 forms like the Queensland plants Omjjhalea and Bursera (Bailey — Rep. 

 Austr. Assoc. Adv. Sci. vi. 1895, p. 393) and the Fijian lizard, Brachy- 

 lopliiLs, possibly indicate a trans-Polar migration antecedent to either 

 referred to above. 



t Hedley— Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W, (2), vii. 1892, p. 339; idem, xxiii. 

 J 898, p. 99. 



