632 ZOOLOCxY 



SECT. 



Birds abuiulant in tlie Oriental region. Snakes, Lizards, and 

 Frogs are abundant, and in the rivets of Queensland occurs 

 Ceratodus, one of the three existing genera of Dipnoi. 



o to^ 



The New Zealand Region comprises tlie three islands of 

 New Zealand (North, South, and Stewart's Ishinds), together with 

 Norfolk, Lord Howe, and the Kermadec Lslands to the north, the 

 Chatham Islands to the east, and the Bounty, Antipodes, Auckland, 

 Campbell, and Macquarie Lslands to the south. 



The characteristics of the New Zealand fauna have already been 

 dealt with in some detail. The total absence of land Mammals, 

 with the exception of two Bats and a Rat, the latter probably 

 introduced ; the large proportion of endemic Birtls, many of 

 which are flightless; the exclusive possession of more than half 

 the known genera, and of a large majority of the species of 

 Eatitffi, and of the entire order Rhynchocephalia; the total 

 ab.sence of Ophidia, Chelonia, and Crocodiha ; the paucity of 

 Lacertilia and the almo.st total absence of Amphibia; all these 

 faunal characters combine to make New Zealand one of the best 

 marked and most peculiar tracts on the earth's surface. 



One or two facts must be mentioned witli regard to the smaller 

 islands of the region. In Norfolk Island there existed until 

 recently a flightless Rail, Notornis alha, belonging to a genus the 

 only other species of which lives or lived in New Zealand. In 

 Phillip Island, close to Norfolk Island, Nestor prodnctus formerly 

 occurred, a member of an endemic New Zealand family of Parrots. 

 In Lord Howe Island there is a species of the endemic New 

 Zealand flightless Rail Ocydrovius. These three facts all point to 

 a former partial or complete land connection between New Zealand 

 and the Lslands in question. The remaining islands are closely 

 related to New Zealand, but with greatly impoverished faun;i?. 

 In Macquarie Island, the southernmost land outside the Antarctic 

 circle, there has recently been discovered an Earthworm with 

 distinct South American affinities. 



The Polynesian Region embraces the numerous groups of 

 islands lying within the tropics to the east and north of the 

 Austro-Malayan Islands. The most important groups are New 

 Caledonia, the New Hebrides, Fiji, the Friendly Islands, Samoa, 

 the Society Islands, and the Sandwich Island-s. They are all 

 typical oceanic islands, that is, they are of volcanic origin, have no 

 stratified rocks, and show no indication of former connection with 

 any continental area. 



In correspondence with their isolated position, the faunas of 

 these islands, although exhibiting great variety from one group to 

 another, all agree in the absence of Land Mammals, except Bats, 

 and— with one or two exceptions — of Amphibia, in the small 



