chap, xiii.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 459 



Land-Shells. — Of these, 114 species are known, 97 being 

 peculiar. Three species of Helix are also found in Australia, 

 and five more in various tropical islands of the Pacific. Nanina, 

 Lymncea, and Assiminea, are found in Polynesia or Malaya, 

 but not in Australia. Amphibola is an Australian genus, as is 

 Janella. Testacella and Limax belong to the Palsearctic region. 



From the Chatham Islands, 82 species of shells are known, 

 all being New Zealand species, except nine, which are peculiar. 



Tlie Ancient Fauna of New Zealand. — One of the most re- 

 markable features of the New Zealand fauna, is the existence, 

 till quite recent times, of an extensive group of wingless birds, 

 — called Moas by the natives — many of them of gigantic size, 

 and which evidently occupied the place which, in other countries, 

 is filled by the mammalia. The most recent account of these 

 singular remains, is that by Dr. Haast, who, from a study of 

 the extensive series of specimens in the Canterbury museum, 

 believes, that they belong to two families, distinguished by 

 important differences of structure, and constitute four genera, — 

 Dinornis and Miornis, forming the family Dinornithidse ; 

 Palapteryx and Euryapteryx, forming the family Palapterygidae. 

 These were mostly larger birds than the living Apteryx, and 

 some of them much larger even than the African ostrich, and 

 were more allied to the Casuariidse and Struthionidae than to 

 the Apterygidse. No less than eleven species of these birds 

 have been discovered; all are of recent geological date, and 

 there are indications that some of them may have been in 

 existence less than a century ago, and were really exter- 

 minated by man. Eemains have been found (of apparently 

 the same recent date) of species of Apteryx, Stringops, Ocydro- 

 mus, and many other living forms, as well as of Harpagornis, 

 a large bird of prey, and Gnemiornis, a gigantic goose. Bodies 

 of the Hatteria 'punctata have also been found along with those 

 of the Moa, showing that this remarkable reptile was once more 

 abundant on the main islands than it is now. 



TJie Origin of the New Zealand Fauna. — Having now given 



