854 Suarp—On New Zealand Coleoptera. 
we can even at present decide with approximate certainty, in the case of some 
organs, which is the more rudimentary of two forms under comparison. 
When any attempt shall be made to ascertain what affinities the New Zealand 
beetles possess with those of other countries, it must, of course, if it is to be of 
value, deal with the mass of the fauna, and not be decided by the consideration of 
some of the exceptional or isolated forms I have previously mentioned ; and as the 
majority of the New Zealand Coleoptera are insects of small size and unattractive 
appearance, belonging to groups whose congeners in foreign countries have been but 
little studied, or are even quite unknown, it is clear that no answer of importance 
can at present be given to the question where the nearest allies of the New Zealand 
beetles are to be found; but I entertain an impression that it will be in the Chilian 
and Patagonian fauna that the greatest amount of affinity will be found, and that 
while numerous points of propinquity with the Australian fauna undoubtedly exist, 
yet they are rather exceptions dealing with isolated forms, and but little affect the 
mass of the fauna; while if we recollect that many of the most striking, remark- 
able, and characteristic of the Australian groups of beetles are entirely unrepresented 
in New Zealand—the Pseudomorphini, the Schizorhinini, the Stigmoderas, and the 
Amycteride for instance—we must admit that the two faunz cannot be considered 
as at all similar. 
Lasiorhynchus barbicornis is the only member of the Brenthide found in New 
Zealand, and is, perhaps, the most remarkable beetle of the islands, and on the 
whole it must be considered a highly evoluted form, there being great sexual 
differentiation, with remarkable male characters, large size, and considerable per- 
fection of general structure. It would then appear to be quite foreign to the New 
Zealand fauna; and yet, so far as we know, it has not any really close ally in 
other countries. Another of the remarkable isolated forms is Dendroblax ; it is of 
large size, and has been known for forty years (though still a great rarity in Euro- 
pean collections). Its position has never been satisfactorily decided, and Parry 
considered it uncertain whether it should go in the Lucanide or not; that it has no 
ally at all in New Zealand, and no near ally out of it is clear therefore. And it 
appears very difficult to know how we are to explain such cases. My own idea is 
something of this sort: I imagine there has been going on in New Zealand, for an 
enormous period of time, the evolution of a fauna parallel with that of the conti- 
nents of the world, and that during this enormous period it has occasionally 
received intrusions from the creatures of other countries, some of which may have 
continued to evolute since their introduction, while others have remained with 
little change. On such a view Dendroblax might be an ancient intrusion into New 
Zealand, which has become extinct elsewhere, and has evoluted but little in New 
Zealand. Lasiorhynchus might be an intrusion into New Zealand that has 
evoluted much since its introduction; while Rhadinosomus might be a compara- 
tively recent intrusion from Australia. 
