124 THE NAUTILUS. 



give the same result. Is it not a curious fact, that in the Patagonian 

 eocene occurs a true Struthlolarla, a genus not elsewhere encountered 

 either recent or fossil but in New Zealand ? All these questions can 

 only progress when the relations of the fossil faunas of Australia and 

 New Zealand are compared with those of South America. 



ON THE ORIGIN OF THE LAND-SNAIL FAUNA OF QUEENSLAND, 

 AUSTEALIA.i 



BY CHARLES HEDLEY. 



In a former article I dealt with the internal distribution of the 

 mollusca of British New Guinea. A few remarks on the external 

 relations of this fauna have since suggested themselves. Wallace's 

 line, so conspicuous a severance among the vertebrates, appears to 

 be quite blotted out when the distribution of animals is regarded 

 from a molluscan standpoint. No sharp break occurs between the 

 Malayan fauna as exemplified in Borneo or the Philippines and in 

 New Guinea. All the characteristic Malayan forms, Atopos, Xesta, 

 JSelicarion, Mierocystina, Trochomorpha, Ohba, Chloritis, Cochlostyla, 

 Pupina and Dlplommatina, are common to both regions. The 

 Solomon Islands, Fiji, Samoa, etc., appear by thelightof the Papuan 

 shells to be inhabited by an eastern extension of this Malayan fauna, 

 which has also overflowered into Queensland. 



One of the most remarkable facts yielded by an analysis of the' 

 Australian land molluscan fauna is that the operculate snails are 

 confined to a narrow strip of land along the Queensland coast. 

 Proceeding southward from Torres Straits, they diminish gradually 

 till the last outpost of the invading army is reached about the Clar- 

 ence River. The sole apparent exception to this rule is Trancatella^ 

 which spreads to Tasmania and South Australia ; but as this genus 

 is strictly littoral and evidently migrates not by land but by sea, it 

 cannot be considered as a disturbing factor in my generalization. 

 Contrasting the fauna of Queensland with the more typically 

 Australian and probably archaic fauna of Tasmania, Victoria and 

 Western Australia on the one side, and that of New Guinea on the 

 other, it will be seen that this foreign aspect of the operculate genera 

 Pupina, Heiiciha and Diplommatiaa is shared by the inoperculate 



1 From an article in Proc. Lin. Soc N. S. Wales, Australia. 



