chap, xin.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 405 



confined to the warmer parts of both countries, they may be best 

 explained as cases of survival of a once wide-spread type, and 

 may probably date back to the period when the ancestors of the 

 Marsupials and Megapodii were cut off from the rest of the world. 



Coleoptera. — The same remark applies here as in the Lepidop- 

 tera, respecting the affinity of the Austro-Malay fauna to that of 

 Indo-Malay Islands; but Australia proper is much richer in 

 beetles than in butterflies, and exhibits much more speciality. 

 Although the other two parts of the Australian region (Polynesia 

 and New Zealand) are very poor in beetles, it will, nevertheless, 

 on the whole compare favourably with any of the regions except 

 the very richest. 



Cicindelidse are not very abundant. Therates and Tricondyla 

 are the characteristic genera in Austro-Malaya, but are absent 

 from Australia, where we have Tctracha as the most character- 

 istic genus, with one species of Mcgacephala and two of Distyp- 

 sidera, a genus which is found also in New Zealand and some 

 of the Pacific Islands. The occurrence of the South American 

 genus, Tetracha. may perhaps be due to a direct transfer by 

 means of intervening lands during the warm southern period ; 

 but considering the permanence of coleopterous forms (as shown 

 by the Miocene species belonging almost wholly to existing 

 genera), it seems more probable that it is a case of the survival 

 of a once wide -spread group. 



Carabidre are well represented, there being no less than 94 

 peculiar genera, of which 19 are confined to New Zealand. The 

 Australian genera of most importance are Carcnum (68 species), 

 Promecoderus (27 species), Silphomorpha (32 species), Adelotopus 

 (27 species), Scarapthites (25 species), Notonomus (18 species), 

 Gnathoxys (12 species), Eutoma (9 species), JEnigma (15 species), 

 Lacordairea (8 species), Pamhorus (8 species), Catadromus (4 spe- 

 cies), — the latter found in Australia and Celebes. Common to 

 Australia and New Zealand are Mecodema (14 species), Homalo- 

 so'tna (32 species), Dicrochilc (12 species), and Scopodcs(5 species). 

 The larger genera, confined to New Zealand only, are Metaglymma 

 (8 species), and Demetrida (3 species). The curious genus 

 Pseudomorpha (10 species), is divided between California, Brazil, 



