452 nRAGONFLIEH FROM AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA, 



species. A form that finds the cHmate of the Bhie Mountains 

 suitable should surely also be able to find suitable refuges in Tas- 

 mania, if it came that way. No such species is known at present: 

 but, owing to the small amount of collecting of Odonata carried 

 out there, and also to the extreme difiiculty of finding tiiese 

 insects, we cannot be sure that one does not exist. Meanwhile, 

 we must regard the evidence for the supposition as insufficient, 

 however Tempting aiul fascinating the hypothesis itself may 

 appear.' 



Tt was, therefore, particularly gratifying that the first new 

 species met with at Cradle Mountain should [>rove to be a new 

 member of the group. Its disco^'ery greatly strengthens the 

 argument for the Antarctic Theory. When we add also the 

 evidence aftbrded by its relationship with the other members of 

 the group, the case becomes stronger still. For this new species 

 is older than any other member of the group, in that it still 

 possesses the APparatpd eypi< of the ancestral form, together with a 

 very denselj^ reticulated venation, and exceedingly large auricles. 

 One ma}' be fairly certain that the most speciaHsed forms will be 

 those that have travelled furthest fi-om their place of origin, 

 having become more greatly modified through undergoing a 

 greater change in their climatic surroundings. Thus the presence 

 of the most ai'chaic form in Tasmania points to Tasmania as tlie 

 nearest locality to the place of origin of the group; so that, on 

 this reasoning, no other place of origin but Antarctica would be 

 possible. 



That the group is not yet known to exist in New Zealand 

 cannot now be used against the argument. It may well be that 

 it is represented there, and is awaiting discovery by the first 

 collector who will search for it in the right localities. Even if 

 this is not the case, it does not damage the argument; for, as the 

 the three connections with Antarctica did not all exist at the 

 same time, it is quite possible that the way to New Zealand 

 became closed off before the Odonate migration began, while the 

 other two ways, to Tasmania and Patagonia respectively, re- 

 mained open. 



