INTRODUCTION. xxiii 



Islands have been severed from each other for a sufficiently long period of time to allow of this 

 complete divergence of character under the ordinary laws of natural development. And here we 

 have the supporting testimony of Geology ; for there is every indication in the structure of the two 

 islands that their individual insulation dates back into far antiquity, and was probably coseval 

 with that great convulsion of nature which in the remote past plunged under "the azure main" 

 the continent of which New Zealand and her satellites are now the only existing remnants. 



Prof. A. Milne-Edwards, who has for many years past been engaged in- the publication of a 

 great work on fossil birds, has lately pointed out, in a communication to the Academy of Sciences 

 in Paris, some facts showing a striking analogy in this respect in the case of certain islands east 

 of Africa. In treating of the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon), he remarks 

 that, " as far as the indications go, these are the points still remaining of an ancient continent, 

 which, little by little, has sunk beneath the ocean. Upon these, thus converted into islands, have 

 been concentrated the inhabitants of the land, where they have been crowded together, as shown 

 by their fossil remains, and where they became exterminated, sooner or later, either by the action 

 of man or by other agencies. M. Edwards thinks Madagascar was not connected with these islands 

 at any time ; since, when first discovered by Europeans, the latter contained no mammals what- 

 ever, and therefore, of course, none of the forms at all peculiar to Madagascar, such as lemurs 

 &c. On the other hand, there is, he contends, evidence to show that Madagascar and New 

 Zealand were formerly united, since three species of JEpyornis from Madagascar bear a close 

 generic relationship to Dinornis, Palapteryx, and Apteryx of the latter region. All these belong 

 to the same zoological type ; and communication must have existed between the countries, pro- 

 bably by groups of islands forming intermediate stations, and now unfortunately submerged, 

 leaving no trace behind." 



