164 THE victoeia:s^ xaturalist. 



and a dark ; but in both, in the region of the back, the spines are short and the hairs 

 very long. 



In the marsupials the evidence is negative in the absence of numerous forms found 

 in Victoria, and positive in the presence of the -wallaby [HalmntvynK BiUordien) and the 

 brush kangaroo [H. Bennettii) of Tasmania. Certainly ,both these forms are found on the 

 mainland, but never, apparently, further soutli than the Ranges and northward from 

 these into New South Wales. They do not occur in all the lower lying districts of 

 Victoria (thai is the part nearest to King Island), but are characteristic again of 

 Tasmania. There is no true kangaroo upon the island, and m this and the presence 

 of these two wallabies it agrees with Tasmania and diUers from the part of the main- 

 land nearest to which it lies. 



In the birds the evidence is more striking. So far, 69 species hnve been identified, 

 of which 54 are common to Tasmania and Victoria, 14 are peculiar to Tasmania, and only 

 1 to Victoria, the petrel [Pumnns nvgn.r) had previously, in a list of Dr. Ramsay's, been 

 noted as Tasmanian, though its name does not appear in the recent " Systematic list 

 of Tasmanian Birds," by Col. "W. V. Legge. The one peculiar to the mainland is the 

 grass warbler [Cisticola], of which it has been already said that "it is not at all 

 remarkable that it should have been discovered in King Island, considering it is such 

 a wanderer ; its habitat not only extending over Austraha, but through the inter- 

 mediate islands to Southern Asia." There are in all some 21 species of birds peculiar 

 to Tasmania as opposed to the mainland, and out of these 14 are now known from 

 King Island, while only one species is known which has hitherto been supposed to 

 be confined to the mainland. 



In reptiles the snakes and lizards were forms common to Tasmania and Victoria, 

 with the exception of a local variety of the tiger snake, " 



The fresh-water fish included Anguilla Austrolis, Agonostoma Dienunsis, A, larjistris, 

 Galaxias ocellatus, &. delicatuhis, G. truttaceus, and G. nttennatus, of which the two latter 

 are considerably more common in Tasmania than Victoria. 



The list of invertebrate forms cannot, as yet, be completed, but there is little doubt 

 from the above evidence, negative and positive, that King Island is allied naturally 

 as well as politically to Tasmania. Zoologically, the differences between the mainland 

 and Tasmania are not very great, consisting in the presence of a certain number of 

 different species of mammals and birds peculiar to Tasmania, in the presence of the 

 Thylacinus and Sarcophilus (both, of course, recently extinct on the mainland), and 

 more especially, perhaps, in its zoological povei-ty as compared with the mainland. As 

 might be expected from its small size. King Island is still poorer, zoologically, than 

 Tasmania, tliere being no trace of Thylacinus or Sarcophilus, whilst even the presence 

 of a bandicoot is very doubtful ; but in its peculiar species, as already seen, it 

 resembles Tasmania. 



Lying, as it does, half way between the mainland and the latter, there is, o priori, 

 scarcely any reason why it should more resemble the one than the other, more 

 especially in its bii'ds, for though certainly outlying islands very close to the north- 

 west point of Tasmania render the sea passage to the latter somewhat shorter than 

 that between King Island . and Cape Otway, still it must be remembered that even 

 this is only fifty miles. There are, however, two points of importance to be noticed 

 which have influenced the distribution of animals upon the island. 



In the first place, the prevailing winds are southerly in dii-ection — that is, they blow 

 from the region of Tasmania, and are hence serviceable in carrying birds across the 

 fifty miles of water in which, moreover. Hunter Island, Reid and Blnck Pyi'amid 

 Eocks form, as it were, natural stejjpiijg stones. Right in the very north of the 

 island is the Wickham lighthouse, from wliich, on a veri." clear day. the Otway light 

 can be discerned on the mainland. On questioning the superintendent, he stated that 

 scarcely a single bii'd ever came to the light, and that the -^^ery rare ones ever noticed 

 by him had been ducks approaching froni the landward side. 



The second point is one of interest in connection with the distribution of land 

 forms upon King Island. A Une of soundings (as given in the Admiralty charts) 

 between King Island and Tasmania gives an average of something like 32 fathoms. 

 The lowest is 20, the highest 44, and the great majority range between 30 and 85 

 fathoms. A line between King Island and Cape Otway averages more nearly 4S 

 fathoms. The lowest is 39 ; the highest 55. This fact — the greater depth of the 

 channel between King Island and Otway — shows what is othenvise indicated and 

 confinned by the distribution of land forms, that King Island was in connection with 

 Tasmania after it had become separated from the mainland. Possibly, as the land 

 sank aud an arm of the sea intervened between the Cape Otway disti'ict and the land to 

 the soiith tiiere was still a communication between the latter and the continent by a 

 belt of high ground, only the highest summits of which now exist as a series of 

 islands and rocks leading across from the north-west point of Tasmania to "Wilson's 

 Promontory. Certainly, the chain of soundings here shows considerably shallower 

 water than that between King Island and Otway. The hilly country of the Promon- 

 tory leads inland to the ranges, and thus Tasmania would finally be in connection 

 with the part in which now exists its characteristio wallabie'^. 



Lastly, even this connection with the mainland was lost, and further sinlving of the 

 land resulted in the separation of a series of hnger and smaller islands to the north 

 of Tn'-m-Tifn. One of tb°sp :s King Island. 



* I'rofessor M'Coy has been kind enough to name this, together with the specimens 

 of fi'Psh-water fish brous-h.t back from the island. 



