Manchester Mevwirs, Vol. xlvi. {\go2), No. VZ. 13 



proper there is only a single species of frog, confined to a 

 small area in the north and now very rare. 



Of fresh-water fish I have no complete list, but it is 

 remarkable that there are in the Canterbury Museum at 

 Christchurch no less than four species of Galaxias said to 

 come from this small group. 



Our knowledge of the invertebrate fauna is still no 

 doubt very incomplete, and I have not sufficient data at 

 hand to enable me to attempt a detailed comparison with 

 New Zealand. The general characteristics of the inverte- 

 brate fauna are, however, certainly very similar in the two 

 cases, and there can be little doubt that many of the 

 species are identical. I will quote only one example, 

 which is of great interest, because it clearly shows how 

 small animals, such as worms, insects, or mollusca, may 

 reach the islands from New Zealand, even at the present 

 day, in spite of the wide intervening stretch of ocean. 



Being myself specially interested in the Land Plana- 

 rians, a group of small, soft-bodied worms, very abundant 

 both in New Zealand and Australia, I devoted some 

 attention to these animals while on the Chathams. One 

 species I found very abundant in or under rotten logs ; it 

 was very easily recognised by a peculiar and quite dis- 

 tinctive arrangement of colour-markings, and I found it to 

 be identical with a species, Geoplana exulans, which I had 

 previously received only from the North Island of New 

 Zealand. Now there can be no doubt that there is a well- 

 marked ocean-current running from the north-east of New 

 Zealand to Chatham Island. I myself found a piece of 

 pumice stone on the shore which must have come from 

 the North Island of New Zealand, and I was informed, on 

 excellent authority, that kauri logs from the Auckland 

 district, with the mill-brand on them, are frequently 

 stranded on the Chathams. New Zealand government 



