122 president's address — section d. 



Zealand. With regard to the first and second of these 

 groups there is comparatively little difficulty. 



Of the first group we may instance Peripatus and the 

 genus Lycsena amongst the Lepidoptera. Peripatus has been 

 found along all the eastern coast of Australia from Mount 

 Bellenden Ker in the north to Tasmania in the south, and 

 further search will doubtless reveal its existence in suitable 

 parts elsewhere in AustraUa. It can evidently thrive under 

 very varying conditions of climate. Its existence elsewhere 

 in South Africa, South America and New Zealand shows 

 that existing ones are relics of a widely-dispersed form, and 

 its area of distribution tells neither for nor against Wallace's 

 or Hutton's theory. 



So again with Lycaena, which is widely distributed over 

 the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions, N. India, Australia, 

 New Zealand, S. Africa and ChiU. 



Of the second group the fresh water fishes form the 

 notable example. Of these the genera Galaxias, Retro- 

 pinna, Anguillula, and Prototroctes reveal affinity between 

 Southern Austraha and New Zealand, and the further afiinity 

 of both these parts with S. America may be satisfactorily 

 accounted for by intermittent land connection across the 

 Antarctic region. At the same time it is worth noting that 

 no such community of forms exists between S. Africa and 

 the southern parts of Australasia and America. 



It is the manner of distribution of the third group which is 

 very difficult of explanation. Here we have forms which are 

 found in north east, and not (or only slightly) in south-east 

 Australia and in New Zealand, and at the same time are 

 allied to S. American forms. 



Moreover, as pointed out by Hutton, they have another 

 characteristic feature in their distribution, and that is their 

 absence from Africa. 



Their absence from south-east Australia and Tasmania 

 and strong development in the north east may be regarded 

 as proof that their distribution has not taken place as with 

 fishes (except possibly in one instance, that of Acanthodrilus 

 amongst the Vermes), and we have the two theories of 

 Wallace and Hutton to choose between. 



Included in this third group we have examples of worms, 

 amphibia, land mollusca, and insecta. In the worms we 

 have the genus Acanthodrilus characteristic of New Zealand, 

 with species in Patagonia, Falkland Islands, South Georgia, 

 Kerguelen Island, the Marion Islands, S. Africa, and two 



