304 Rtv. F. I). Morice's Notes oh Australian Sawflies. 



between the distributions throughout the world of Mammals 

 on the one hand, and Sawflies on the other. Thus (a) out- 

 side Australia (the N. American Opossum above-mentioned 

 excepted) Marsupials occur in Neogaea only, and there 

 also only we find Sawflies possessing certain characters 

 otherwise confined absolutely to Australian forms (no 

 " lanceolate cell," labial and maxillary palpi with a reduced 

 number of joints), and agreeing with them also in general 

 " facies " and coloration; (b) it is well known that the 

 indigenous Faunas of Oceanic islands include no Mammals 

 except Bats, and the same appears to be the case with 

 Sawflies, except the Timber-boring forms, which, like Bats, 

 have special possibilities of distribution ; (c) the Faunas 

 of Madagascar and Arctogaea have at present, I believe, 

 only two Mammalian genera in common, and I can only 

 find one record of any Sawfly genus occurring in both, 

 viz. Athalia, except which no Sawflies at all are known 

 to occur in Madagascar, and Mr. H. Scott tells me there are 

 none in the Seychelles; (d) a few groups only of Mammals 

 (eg. Canidae and FeMdae) have a practically world-wide 

 distribution extending in one case to Australia; and simi- 

 larly among Sawflies one remarkable group (the Arginae) 

 is thoroughly cosmopolitan and has certainly reached 

 Australia. This may perhaps be the case with a few others 

 {Lophyrinael and Cimbicinae'l), but a majority probably, 

 both of Mammals and Sawflies, have their ranges strictly con- 

 fined between certain parallels of latitude, and this applies 

 not only to species but to genera, Tribes and Subfamilies; 

 (e) lastly, though certain groups both of Mammals and Saw- 

 flies have reached their maximum of abundance and differ- 

 entiation in other Regions, it is pretty clear that the real 

 metropolis and original centre of distribution of Sawflies 

 must have been Holarctic,as was certainly that of Mammals. 

 Practically all the primary divisions of the Sub-order (and 

 of Hymenoptera generally) are well represented there, and 

 one at least (Lydidae, Konow = Megalodontoidea, Rohwer) 

 as well as many flourishing Subfamilies, Tribes, and 

 genera of others — is apparently quite confined to that 

 Region. Therefore, though we have no palaeontological 

 evidence whatever as to the former habitats of existing 

 Sawflies or their ancestors, such as abounds in the case 

 of Mammals, it seems highly probable that the present 

 representatives of both groups, in any particular district, 

 have arrived in their present habitats from not very 



