CHAP, XIII.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGiON. 405 
confined to the warmer parts of both countries, they may_be best 
explained as cases of survival of a once wide-spread type, and 
may probably date back to the period when the ancestors of the 
Marsupials and Megapodii were cut off from the rest of the world. 
Coleoptera—The same remark applies here as in the Lepidop- 
tera, respecting the affinity of the Austro-Malay fauna to that of 
Indo-Malay Islands; but Australia proper is much richer in 
beetles than in butterflies, and exhibits much more speciality. 
Although the other two parts of the Australian region (Polynesia 
and New Zealand) are very poor in beetles, it will, nevertheless, 
on the whole compare favourably with any of the regions except 
the very richest. : 
Cicindelidz are not very abundant. Therates and Tricondyla 
are the characteristic genera in Austro-Malaya, but are absent 
from Australia, where we have T7etracha as the most character- 
istic genus, with one species of Megacephala and two of Distyp- 
sidera, a genus which is found also in New Zealand and some 
of the Pacific Islands. The occurrence of the South American 
genus, Tetracha, may perhaps be due to a direct transfer by 
means of intervening lands during the warm southern period ; 
but considering the permanence of coleopterous forms (as shown 
by the Miocene species belonging almost wholly to existing 
genera), it seems more probable that it is a case of the survival 
of a once wide-spread group. 
Carabidze are well represented, there being no less than 94 
peculiar genera, of which 19 are confined to New Zealand. The 
Australian genera of most importance are Carenum (68 species), 
Promecoderus (27 species), Silphomorpha (32 species), Adelotopus 
(27 species), Scaraphites (25 species), Notonomus (18 species), 
Gnathoxys (12 species), Hutoma (9 species), A/nigma (15 species), 
Lacordairea (8 species), Pamborus (8 species), Catadromus (4 spe- 
cies),—the latter found in Australia and Celebes. Common to 
Australia and New Zealand are Mecodema (14 species), Homalo- 
soma (32 species), Dicrochile (12 species), and Scopodes (5 species). 
The larger genera, confined to New Zealand only, are Metaglymma 
(8 species), and Demetrida (3 species). The curious genus 
Pseudomorpha (10 species), is divided between California, Brazil, 
