CHAP, XIII. ] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 459 
Land-Shells—Of these, 114 species are known, 97 being 
peculiar. Three species of Helix are also found in Australia, . 
and five more in various tropical islands of the Pacific. Nanina, 
Lymnea, and Assiminea, are found in Polynesia or Malaya, 
but not in Australia. -Amphibola is an Australian genus, as is 
Janella. Testacella and Lima belong to the Palearctic region. 
From the Chatham Islands, 82 species of shells are known, 
all being New Zealand species, except nine, which are peculiar. 
The Ancient Fauna of New Zealand—One of the most re- 
markable features of the New Zealand fauna, is the existence, 
till quite recent times, of an extensive group of wingless birds, 
—called Moas by the natives—many of them of gigantic size, 
and which evidently occupied the place which, in other countries, 
is filled by the mammalia. The most recent account of these 
singular remains, is that by Dr. Haast, who, from a study of 
the extensive series of specimens jn the Canterbury museum, 
believes, that they belong to two families, distinguished by 
important differences of structure, and constitute four genera,— 
Dinornis and Miornis, forming the family Dimornithide ; 
Palapteryxz and Euryapteryx, forming the family Palapterygide. 
These were mostly larger birds than the living Apteryz, and 
some of them much larger even than the African ostrich, and 
_ were more allied to the Casuariide and Struthionide than to 
the Apterygide. No less than eleven species of these birds 
have been discovered; all are of recent geological date, and 
there are indications that some of them may have been in 
existence less than a century ago, and were really exter- 
minated by man. Remains have been found (of apparently 
the same recent date) of species of Apteryx, Stringops, Ocydro- 
mus, and many other living forms, as well as of Harpagornis, 
a large bird of prey, and Cnemiornis, a gigantic goose. Bodies 
of the Hatteria punctata have also been found along with those 
of the Moa, showing that this remarkable reptile was once more 
abundant on the main islands than it is now. 
The Origin of the New Zealand Fauwna.—Having now given 
