HuTTo:s^. — On the Geograi^liical Relations of the N.Z. Fauna, 251 



most important are Ditrema, Torpedo, and Anguilla latirostris among fishes j 

 Mytilus s/naragdinics, PhoruSj Rotella, Galyptrcea, Cassidula musfilina, 

 Lymncea, and Rhynchonella among shells ; Perla and Hermes among insects j 

 Lithohius 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 

 natiiral 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 Hymenolaimxis, Notornis, Hinulia, 

 Mocoa, Galaxias, Prototroctes, Liopelma, Janella, Amp)hibola, Hemicops, and 

 Peripatus, and further to the north by Megapodius ; and probably also by 

 many forms peculiar to New Zealand, such as Sti'ingops, Keropia, Xenicus, 

 Heteralocha, Anarhynchus, Xaultinus, 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 



