Hutron.—On the Geographical Relations of the N.Z. Fauna. 251 
most important are Ditrema, Torpedo, and Anguilla latirostris among fishes ; 
Mytilus smaragdinus, Phorus, Rotella, Calyptrea, Cassidula mustilina, 
Lymnea, and Rhynchonella among shells ; Perla and Hermes among insects ; 
Lithobius among centipedes ; Bipalium among the Scolecida, and Pentagonaster 
pulchellus and Othilia luzonica among the star-fish ; none of these, it must be 
remembered, being found in Australia. The absence of Mammalia, however, 
in New Zealand shows that this line of communication was never continuous 
land, but the absence from Australia of the forms that I have mentioned 
shows that the connection along the whole line was closer at every point than 
it was with that continent, and this leads to the further conclusion that this 
line of communication existed at a later date than the connection of New 
Zealand with Australia. 
The close relationship of the Chatham and Auckland Islands in all their 
natural productions to those of New Zealand, and the far greater difference 
between New Zealand and the islands more to the north, as well as the large 
number of species of moa lately inhabiting these islands, shows that another 
and smaller continent, or perhaps a large island, existed at a still later period, 
but has since subsided, and this must bring us nearly to the recent period, 
or the difference between New Zealand and the Chatham Islands would be 
greater. 
The geographical distribution, therefore, of the New Zealand fauna points 
to the following conclusions :— 
1. A continental period, during which South America, New Zealand, 
Australia, and South Africa were all connected, although it is not necessary 
that all should have been connected at the same time, but New Zealand must 
have been isolated from all before the spread of the Mammals, and from that 
time to the present it has never been completely submerged. This continent 
was inhabited by Struthious birds, and by Hymenolaimus, Notornis, Hinulia, 
Mocoa, Galaxias, Prototroctes, Liopelma, Janella, Amphibola, Hemicops, and 
Peripatus, and further to the north by Megapodius ; and probably also by 
many forms peculiar to New Zealand, such as Stringops, Keropia, X enicus, 
Heteralocha, Anarhynchus, Naultinus, etc. Of course in mentioning these 
names I do not mean that all the forms were the same then as now, but that 
the ancestors of these genera lived on the old antarctic continent. 
2. Subsidence followed, and the evidence then points to a second continent 
stretching from New Zealand to Lord Howe Island and New Caledonia, and 
extending for an unknown distance into Polynesia, but certainly not so far as 
the Sandwich Islands. The fact of Mammals being found in the New 
Hebrides, Solomon Islands, and New Ireland, shows that between New 
Caledonia and the New Hebrides a narrow strait must have existed, cutting 
off land communication, but these were connected with China either direct or 
