44 



Astacus here with that found on the same continent, the 

 existence here of certain marsupial forms (Thylacinus and 

 Native Devil) and of fossil remains of the same in 

 caves in New South Wales, and in deposits of a late 

 tertiary period, coupled with many resemblances in the 

 vegetation of the two countries, which I hope to develope 

 and comment on fully at some future period — to recog- 

 nise as a fact that at some late period, so late indeed as to 

 be within the term of existence of an animal species, a direct 

 connection has existed between this island and what may be 

 termed the mainland of Australia, and the examples quoted 

 above, and many others which might be added to them, are 

 but the remains of a fauna and a flora once common to the 

 whole, and that the species of Astacus and other forms have 

 probably extended southwards to their present position, and 

 been arrested in their further progress by some physical diffi- 

 culty which a more extended acquaintance with the geological 

 history of the recent formations may reveal to us. 



