Royal Institution of Great Britain. 413 



marks of his own ; but, as he has omitted the usual quotation com- 

 mas, it requires some care to distinguish between them. 



From the list given at the beginning we find that 1141 si)ecies 

 are described. To those who have been in New Zealand, and noted 

 the apparent scarcity of animal life (mosquitoes excepted), this 

 must appear to be a very large mimber. Many, however, are only 

 known at present from one or, at most, two or three specimens ; 

 and some will perhaps be found to be merely varieties. As usual 

 in island faunas, Curculionida5 are the most numerous ; they number 

 207 species ; then follow Longicorns 182, and Carabidae with 135. 

 Buprestida; have only 2 species, Scaraba3idae 29 ; and all the Phyto- 

 phagous families do not yield more than 36: these three groups are 

 in marked contrast with the numerous species of the Australian 

 fauna. The comparatively small families of Pselaphidae and Coly- 

 diida3 are represented by 44 and 49 respectively. 



There is very little in its beetle-fauna to connect New Zealand 

 with Australia, and still less with any neighbouring land. Prof. 

 Huxley considers these islands to form a distinct zoological pro- 

 vince : they are certainly peculiar in the fragmentary character of 

 their productions ; but they have no endemic groups larger than 

 genera, and few of these are very remarkable. Captain Broun's 

 list contains 355 genera ; of these, 93 are represented in England, 

 while the otherwise exclusively Australian genera are nearly con- 

 fined to Leperina, Adelium, Amarygmus, Tanychilus, Rhadinosomus, 

 Pachyura, and Eutliyrhinus. With regard to the other orders of 

 insects it is perhaps hazardous to say that they are not represented 

 in such large niimbers ; still there is reason to believe that the 

 Coleoptera exceed all the rest together. It is to be hoped that this 

 useful work will be followed by others completing the insect-fauna. 



PEOCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



EOYAL INSTITUTION OF GEEAT BRITAIN. 



February 4, 1881.— Thomas Boycott, M.D., F.L.S., Vice-President, 

 in the Chair. 



" On the Origin of Colonial Organisms." By Dr. Andrew Wilson, 

 F.R.S.E. &c. 



Every animal develops, directly or indirectly, from an " ovum " or 

 egg ; and the plant springs, directly or indirectly, from the germ or 

 seed. One chief difterence between low and high forms of life con- 

 sists in the fact that the development of the former ceases at a stage 

 when the development of the latter has barely begun. The Ore- 

 garina is a microscopic speck of protoplasm living parasitically 

 within the bodies of earthworms and other Articulated animals. 

 When development takes place the body becomes oval, develops a 

 wall or cyst, and the internal protoplasm breaks up into small 



