chap, xiii.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 449 



otherwise peculiar American family, occurring so far across the 

 Pacific. 



Snakes are much less abundant, only four genera being repre- 

 sented, one of them marine. They are, Anoplodipsas, a peculiar 

 genus of Amblycephalidse from New Caledonia; Enygrus, a 

 genus of Pythonidse from the Fiji Islands ; Ogmodon, a peculiar 

 genus of Elapidae, also from the Fiji Islands, but ranging to 

 Papua and the Moluccas ; and Platurus, a wide-spread genus of 

 sea-snakes (Hydrophidre). In the more remote Sandwich and 

 Society Islands there appear to be no snakes. This accords 

 with our conclusion that lizards have some special means of 

 dispersal over the ocean which detracts from their value as 

 indicating zoo-geographical affinities ; which is further proved 

 by the marvellous range of a single species (referred to above) 

 from Australia to the Sandwich Islands. 



A species of Hyla is said to inhabit the New Hebrides, and 

 several species of Platymantis (tree-frogs) are found in the Fiji 

 Islands ; but otherwise the Amphibians appear to be unrepre- 

 sented in the sub-region, though they will most likely be found 

 in so large an island as New Caledonia. 



From the foregoing sketch, it appears, that although the 

 reptiles present some special features, they agree on the whole 

 with the birds, in showing, that the islands of Polynesia 

 all belong to the Australian region, and that in the Fiji Is- 

 lands is to be found the fullest development of their peculiar 

 fauna. 



IV. New Zealand Sub-region. 



The islands of New Zealand are more completely oceanic 

 than any other extensive tract of land, being about 1,200 

 miles from Australia and nearly the same distance from New 

 Caledonia and the Friendly Isles. There are, however, several 

 islets scattered around, whose productions show that they 

 belong to the same sub-region ; — the principal being, Norfolk 

 Island, Lord Howe's Island, and the Kermadec Isles, on the 

 north ; Chatham Island on the east ; the Auckland and Mac- 

 quarie Isles on the south ; — and if these were once joined to 



