78 



NATURE 



[May 26, 1904 



abode ! When you will know that I have very good 

 and near parents in both armies, and you perceive the 

 possibility of parents killing themselves without re- 

 cognising' themselves, nor having the opportunity to 

 do so, you will understand that I have often headach 

 when i ride the newspapers or hear from the quite 

 useless slaughters which have been provocated only by 

 those men at the head of the human society." 



Too much language must have made his charming 

 old geological friend a little mad, for Sir Archibald tells 

 us that " all the letters to me, extending over a period 

 of thirteen years," of this too cosmopolitan man of 

 science, "were written in broken English," of which 

 the letter above is a specimen. 



The book is full of passages which recall one of the 

 most delightful, and one of the earliest of Sir Archi- 

 bald's books on the scenery of Scotland. I take a 

 grateful farewell of the " Reminiscences " if you will 

 allow me one more extract in illustration : — 



" The fate of the Celt in the Highlands has been 

 far different. There he has found himself in a region 

 of mountains too rugged and lofty for cultivation, save 

 along their bases, and too continuous to permit easy 

 access from one district to another. . . . Shut in 

 among long, narrow, and deep glens, he has culti- 

 vated their strips of alluvium, but has too often found 

 the thin stony soil to yield but a poor return for his 

 labour. For many a long century he had to defend 

 his flocks and herds from the wolf, the fox and (he 

 wild cat. The gloom of his vallevs is deepened by 

 the canopy of cloud which for so large a portion of 

 the year rests upon the mountain ridges and cuts off 

 the light and heat of the sun. Hence his harvests 

 are often thrown into the late autumn, and in many 

 a season his thin and scanty crops rot on the ground, 

 leaving him face to face with starvation and an in- 

 clement winter. Under these adverse conditions he 

 could hardly fail to become more or less subdued and 

 grim." 



In passages like this, admirable in description and 

 rich in human sympathy, the book abounds. 



W. J. 



THE NEW ZEALAND FAUNA. 

 Index Faunae Novae Zealandiae. Edited by F. W. 



Hutton. Pp. viii + 372. (London: Dulau and Co., 



1904.) Price 10s. 6d. net. 

 "XT flTH the exception of the valuable introduction, 

 » » by the editor, which appeals to a somewhat 

 wider circle, this is essentially a book of reference, and 

 as such is all-important to the scientific worker. In 

 drawing up the list Of the fauna, Captain Hutton has 

 had the assistance of specialists in various branches of 

 zoology who have undertaken the groups with which 

 they are most familiar, so that the work may be re- 

 garded as thoroughly complete and up-to-date. Only 

 two land mammals — bats — are recognised as indi- 

 genous to the islands, the so-called Maori rat {Mtis 

 exiilans) having apparently been introduced from 

 Polynesia. This species, together with other wild 

 forms introduced by human agency, are noticed in an 

 appendix, and the reader will probably be surprised 

 to find how large a list of foreigners has thus been 

 NO. 1804, VOL. 70] 



added to the indigenous fauna. It should be men- 

 tioned that the text of the work is an " index " pure 

 and simple, not even the local distribution of the 

 various species being given. 



.\fter a brief historical survey of the acquisition of 

 our present knowledge of the New Zealand fauna, 

 Captain Hutton enters on a detailed discussion of the 

 origin and relationships of that fauna, and since this 

 is a subject to which he has for many years devoted 

 special attention, his matured conclusions are of the 

 highest value and importance. 



The migratory portion of the fauna is very small, 

 including only some half-dozen species of birds. The 

 preponderating stationary portion may, according to 

 Captain Hutton, be divided into a small aboriginal 

 element, comprising species with no near relatives 

 elsewhere, and larger Malay, Australian, and 

 .'Vntarctic elements, as well as several smaller ones. 

 .\mong the aboriginal forms, that is to say, those 

 which appear to have been inhabitants of the islands 

 for a very long period, the author includes the short- 

 tailed bat (Mystacops), the tuatera, and the kiwi. 

 Taking a broad view of the fauna, it may be said that 

 the terrestrial portion is mainly of Malay origin, but 

 with somewhat strong Holarctic and Neogseic con- 

 nections. This opinion is important in connection with 

 the view that has been elsewhere expressed as to the 

 Asiatic origin of the Australasian marsupials. 



From the occurrence of a number of animals which 

 it is impossible to believe could have crossed the sea, 

 the author is of opinion that New Zealand is not 

 entitled to be regarded as an oceanic island, but that 

 at an epoch relatively remote it formed part of a large 

 continent. 



The land shells of the genus Endodonta, which 

 range all through Polynesia, New Zealand, eastern 

 .\ustralia. New Guinea, and the Philippines, with an 

 outlier in Ceylon, afford the best evidence in favour of 

 a Polynesian continent, the Cingalese outlier pointing 

 to the conclusion that this group of molluscs originally 

 came from the north. The moUuscan evidence will 

 not, however, explain the South American connection. 



The best zoological evidence of the latter connection, 

 by way of Antarctica, is afforded by the earthworms 

 of the family Acanthodrilidse, which are unknown 

 north of the equator, although their occurrence in 

 Madagascar may point to a northern origin. The 

 primary northern origin of the mainly fresh-water 

 fishes of the genus Galaxias may perhaps also be in- 

 dicated by the existence of the allied Cromeria in the 

 Nile. Additional evidence of a connection with Pata- 

 gonia is afforded by the occurrence in the Tertiary 

 strata of South America and New Zealand of quite a 

 number of shallow-water marine invertebrates, as, 

 indeed, has been recently pointed out by Dr. von 

 Ihering. Further, the occurrence of these forms in 

 older strata in South America than in New Zealand 

 points to the conclusion that the migration took place 

 from the former to the latter area. 



Lack of space alone prevents us from discussing in 

 greater detail Captain Hutton 's very interesting and 

 suggestive views. R. L. 



