Summary of Results.] SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 795 



In the biological relations of these islands there are two points to be considered 

 — viz., (1) the connection of the islands with New Zealand, and (2) their connec- 

 tion with other subantarctic lands and with the Antarctic Continent. 



The facts bearing on the question of the connection of the islands with New 

 Zealand appear to be as follows : — 



In the first place, the sea between them and New Zealand is probably not more 

 than 1,000 fathoms deep ; between New Zealand and the Auckland Islands it is 

 doubtless very much less — a sounding twenty miles north of Auckland Island gave 

 95 fathoms ; and the 1,000-fathom line extends far to the east and south of New 

 Zealand, and, so far as is known, includes Chatham Island, Bounty Islands, 

 Antipodes, and Campbell Island, as well as the Aucklands. There is probably a 

 greater depth south of Campbell and Auckland Islands and between them and 

 Macquarie, but, unfortunately, definite evidence as to the depth of the sea in this 

 locality does not appear to be obtainable. 



From the appearance of the islands it is quite evident that they have been of 

 greater extent than they are at present, and that, as at Auckland Island for example, 

 the west coast is gradually being worn away by the action of the strong westerly 

 waves. The reefs lying to the north and east of Auckland Island also point to a 

 greater extension of the island. From other physiographical considerations it 

 appears that Auckland Island, at any rate, was in recent times higher than at pre- 

 sent ; and the same thing is probably true of Campbell Island. A greater eleva- 

 tion of the land would, to some extent, account for the signs of recent giaciation 

 that were observed. 



The occurrence of fragments of granites, gneisses, contorted schists, and gab- 

 bros in a conglomerate at Carnley Harbour, in Auckland Islands, indicates the pre- 

 sence of a continental area in that neighbourhood, and the large masses of plutonic 

 rocks at the Auckland Islands, Snares, Bounty Islands, and Campbell Island point to 

 the fact that all these islands probably formed part of a continental area connecting 

 them with New Zealand. In Campbell Island a number of fossils have been found 

 in limestone beds. The species are for the most part the same as some found in 

 similar beds in New Zealand which have been classified by Hutton as Oligocene, 

 by Hector as Cretaceo -tertiary, and by Park as Miocene. In his report (p. 703) 

 Professor Marshall is inclined to think that the Miocene is more likely to be the 

 European equivalent of these beds, though exact correlation is impossible in the 

 present state of our knowledge. These fossils indicate shallow water when they 

 were deposited, and consequently the contemporaneous existence of land- areas in 

 the neighbourhood. 



If we turn to the biological evidence we find that the connection between New 

 Zealand and its subantarctic islands is referred to by most of the contributors to this 

 work. Mr. Suter points out (p. 54) that " a former land connection between New 

 Zealand and the subantarctic islands seems to be proved by the occurrence in 

 the islands of Allodiscus flanulatus, Flammulina jphlogofhora, Endodonta anguiculus, 

 Sphaerium novae-zealandiae, and also of the genus Athoracophorus.'^ Professor 

 Benham (p. 254) speaks of the existence of the genera Rhododnlus and Plagiochaeta 

 in New Zealand and also in the Auckland and Campbell Islands, and of the occurrence 

 in the Auckland Islands of Leptodrilus, an endemic genus which is closely related to 

 the purely New Zealand genus Rhododrilus, and says, "The occurrence, then, of 



