118 THE CARABIDAE OF TASMANIA, 



Antarctic. On tbe whole the Carab-lauua of Tasmania is an Australian one 

 modified by the presence of a greater proportion of Antarctic forms than occur 

 in the fauna of the continent, and by the absence of the numerous oriental 

 tribes, genera anil species that are such a conspicuous clinracter of the C;i.<ibidae 

 of Australia. 



Keejiiug in view accepted jieological opinions, it is evident there may well 

 be tiiree component parts in the insect fauna of Tasmania, viz., (1) an original 

 Mesozoic fauna similar to that of Australia in the Mesozoie era ; ( 2 ) an Antarc- 

 tic element introduced along with the Marsupials not later than the Miocene; 

 (3) an inflow of immigrants from Australia in late Pliocene and Pleistocene 

 times. Of these, the Antarctic will be the most easily discernible, for tlie other 

 two components are parts of one fauna, as it apjieared before and after the long 

 Eocene-Miocene separation between Australia and Tasmania. It is obvious that 

 the glaciation of Tasmania during the Koscuisko epoch (Pleistocene) must have 

 profoundly affected both the original (Pre-Tertiary ) and Antarctic (E'icene- 

 Miocene) faunas, for only on the low lands fciuld any insects have survived. 

 This glacial period must also have prevented the access to Tasmania of many 

 warmth-loving Australian groups during the la.st union of Ta.smania with Aus- 

 tralia, and it will hive lielped the spread of Antarctic species along the cord'llera 

 of Eastern Australia. 



I take the present opportunity to draw attention to a striking fact which is 

 disclosed by studying the present distribution of dragonflies. In the list of genera 

 of dragonflies given by Dr. R. J. Tillyard in his book, ''The Biology of Dr:igon- 

 flies," ]i. 300, he enumerates for the order Odonata, 36"2 genera Iselonging to the 

 different zoogeographical regions of the world. These are distributed between 

 the different regions in the following numbers: — Neotropical region. Ill cenera; 

 Nearctic, 24; Palaearctic, 14; Ethiopian, 70; Oriental, 82; Australian, 1. Theso 

 figures show 242 genera in the three southern lanl masses of the globe, as against 

 120 genera in the three nortliern land masses. In 1806 I obtained a simihii' re- 

 sult for the tiger beetles, my figures showing 30 genera found in the three so;ilhern 

 land areas, as against 8 in the three northern areas. This question requires to be 

 treated in a similar way for other orders and families of insects before any in- 

 ferences of value can be drawn from it, but the results obtained from these two 

 widely-separated groups of insects have led me to suppose (1) that the present 

 distribution of insects may have been mainly from the south, and (2) that the 

 present distribution of animals may be, even in such an ancient class as the 

 Insecta, largely a matter of tlie Tertiary period ; this latter inference would 

 mean that the northern lands had undergone more vicissitudes in the destruction 

 of their animal life during the Tertiary period than southern lands, and had 

 been since the l)eginning of Tertiary limes largely stocked from the south. 



Family CARATUnAE. 



Table of Tribes found in .Australia and Tasmania. 



1. (101 Middle coxal cavities not entirely enclosed by the sterna, epimera 



of the mesosternum attaining the coxae. Carabidae disjunctae. 



2. (7) Anterior coxal cavities closed behind Carabidae clausae. 



3. (41 Anterior tibiae emarginate on inner side, both spurs tenninal .Oz.\kxini. 



4. (3) Anterior tibiae emarginate on inner side, one spur above apex 



