28 MR, A. MUEKA-Y ON THE GEOGRArniOAL RELATIONS OF 



Capt. Carmichael does not say much about the insects, but 

 what he does say tells the same tale as the plants, — " Three small 

 species of OurcuUo." Thus we have, again, small Ourculios, proba- 

 bly similar to those which have given a character to the Coleoptera 

 of the other islands ; with them four JPhalcenas, the old genus for 

 the typical British Moths — a Ilippobosca (qu' allait-il faire dans 

 cette gaUre, where were neither horses nor other land quadru- 

 peds for them to feed on ?), — two species of Musca, and a Tipula. 

 Of Crustaceans, an Oniscus, an Astacus, and a Cancer, all cha- 

 racteristic types of the European fauna. Of the land-shells we 

 may say the same ; we know only two, both species of the 

 genus JBalea, a genus allied to Fupa, of which species have 

 nowhere been met with elsewhere, except in Hungary, Norway, 

 Porto Santo (one of the Madeiran group), and New Grauada. 

 The Norway species has also been found on the highest peak of 

 Porto Santo, The only locality not entirely microtypal is New 

 Granada; and of it the mountainous part is microtypal, the 

 plain Brazilian. In which of these the JBalea occurs I do not 

 know ; but the probability is in favour of the mountains, because 

 the climate of the lower parts is so dangerous that it is almost 

 entirely in the mountains that collecting has chiefly taken 

 place, . 



The sea-shells and other marine objects recorded by Capt. 

 Carmichael all have the same microtypal tinge. Chiton, Cardium, 

 Patella, JBuccinum, Sepia, EcJiinus, and corallines sound mar- 

 vellously like the contents of one's basket after a rummage along 

 the coast in our own country. 



Have we now reached the southern limit of the ancient At- 

 lantis ? Is Tristan d' Acunha its outmost cape ? Has it stretched 

 for interminable space to the South Pole without leaving an in- 

 dication of its existence ? or has it trended off to the Palkland 

 Islands and South Shetlands, and joined Tierra del Puego, and 

 possibly Patagonia ? If there were no other way of account- 

 ing for the microtypal character of the fauna and flora of South 

 America south of tlie Plata, all to the south of it being micro- 

 typal, one might feel disposed to assume that it did ; and had we 

 only the flora to go by, I should probably adopt that view, for we 

 have in Tierra del Puego and the other antarctic islands the 

 very types of European plants that we have noted in Tristan 

 d' Acunha — Empetrums, Ranunculus, Cardamine, Wild Celery, &c. 

 &c. But I shall presently show that there was another route by 



