58 MB, A. MURRAY ON TUE GEOGRAPHICAL RELATIONS OP 



distribution, or it may be tbere as a representative of tbe mi- 

 crotypal element. 



I now pass on to the Indo-African stirps. I may take it for 

 granted that the East Indies south of the Himajayas, Siam, the 

 south of China, and the Malayan Archipelago, all belong to 

 one fauna or subfauna. It is not even possible to make sub- 

 sections of any portion of them ; not only the genera but even the 

 species are often the same on both sides of the Bay of Bengal. 



The only point on which I anticipate any difierence of opinion 

 in this direction is the relation of the New- Guinea group of 

 islands to the Malayan group. As every one knows, Mr. "Wallace 

 has in various publications advocated a separation of the New- 

 Guinea group from the Malayan by a line drawn up the Straits 

 of Macassar, and has given a variety of interesting details in 

 support of bia views. Convinced by his reasoning, I adopted and 

 followed his conclusions in my book on the ' Geographical Dis- 

 tribution of Mammals.' That was all right. The facts, so far 

 as regards the Mammals, entirely supported Mr. Wallace's views, 

 and I could do nothing else but adopt his hypothesis, I went 

 rather further, however; I accepted his theory as of general 

 application ; and whether I have actually committed myself to 

 that in so many words or not, I know I meant that, and I have 

 no doubt that impression is given by what I say. I wish I had 

 been a little more reticent ; I now find, on a careful application 

 of his hypothesis to Coleoptera, that it will not answer for them. 

 "Whether it be that we are dealing with creatures representing 

 a more ancient state of things (the birds and mammals speaking 

 to an arrangement of land and water at a comparatively recent 

 period), or that we have overestimated the value of the dif- 

 ferences of the fauna on each side of the Straits of Macassar, I 

 do not know ; but I do say, with a degree of positiveness and 

 decision which, at any rate, must secure confidence in the 

 strength of my own conviction, that the Coleoptera of the New- 

 Guinea Islands are essentially Indo-Malayan. When I wrote 

 my monograph of Nitidulidae, I studied, as was my duty, the 

 species collected by Mr. "Wallace most thoroughly, and there 

 was not a vestige of any element but the Indian element among 

 them. So with the great mass of the rest. My friend Mr. 

 Pascoe, who is our first authority on Longicorns, shares my opi- 

 nion as regards them. There are undoubtedly a number of pecu- 

 liar forms among the New-Guinea Coleoptera ; but a few unusual 



