1902.] 



AND ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 335 



about a possible tectonic connection of these parts. Neumayr, 

 however (1890), draws in his map of the Jurassic continents, men- 

 tioned repeatedly above, a peninsula, which is connected with his 

 Sino-Austraüan continent, and which corresponds closely to Hed- 

 ley's idea of Melanesia. This peninsula is missing in Koken 's map 

 {1893) of the Cretaceous continents, and even New Zealand is not 

 given as land there. But Koken does not seem to have paid much 

 attention to these parts of the earth's surface in Cretaceous times, 

 since it seems quite sure that at least parts of New Zealand were 

 land then. In the Older Tertiary, New Zealand and New Cale- 

 donia were islands, according to Koken, while Australia extended 

 far to the east, including Lord Howe Island. 



Although, in general, the geological evidence for the connection 

 of New Zealand with Australia is very scarce, we certainly have to 

 assume it according to the characters of the fauna and flora of New 

 Zealand, and the material at hand points distinctly to the fact that 

 this connection was interrupted a: a comparatively early period. 

 Thus there is nothing that is opposed to the view of von Ihering, 

 that the final isolation of New Zealand took place not later 

 than the beginning of the Eocene, and there is no objection to the 

 demonstration on the part of Hedley that this connection with 

 Australia was by way of New Caledonia and New Guinea« Our 

 present case, the distribu ion of Paranephrops in New Zealand, fits 

 well into this theory: this genus reached New Zealand in Pre- 

 Tertiary times, probably in the Upper Cretaceous, and very likely 

 by the way indicated by Hedley; since the Eocene it has become 

 isolated on this island group. 



5. CONNECTION OF SOUTH AMERICA WITH AUSTRALIA (RESP. NEW 



ZEALAND). 



The genus Parastacus in the temperate and subtropical parts of 

 South America points to a connection of this continent with those 

 parts in which allied forms are found, namely, with Australia and 

 New Zealand. Numerous instances of a similar distribution, 

 which suggest a relation of the same parts, are known, not only 

 among land and freshwater animals, but also among the marine 

 littoral fauna. This remarkable fact has been noticed at a very- 

 early time, and has suggested various theories, which have been 

 reviewed and classified by the present writer (Ortmann, iqoi). 

 The views of the majority of the later authors now agree more or 



