144 



Aphodius; and, I miglit also add, Mesites with Cos- 

 sonus. I believe indeed that Mesites will be found to 

 attain its maximum on the Pyrenees (I already possess 

 two or three species, ia abundance, from that region) ; 

 and, if such should be the case, we shall be able to ap- 

 preciate the significance of two representatives so closely 

 allied as the M. Tardii and Maderensis, — one of which 

 has been given off ia the direction of Ireland, and the 

 other of the Madeiran Archipelago. 



But I will not digress further on the subject of this 

 Atlantic province; since, however much I may indivi- 

 dually regard it as a reality of the past (which the 

 Coleopterous statistics have compelled me to do), it must 

 of necessity remain, as heretofore, a matter of much 

 controversy and doubt. I should indeed apologize for 

 having trespassed on the reader's attention, in wandering 

 thus far from the immediate results of subsidences, — 

 which I proposed, at the outset of this chapter, to exa- 

 miae, with reference to the impeded diffusion of the 

 Annulose races. Nevertheless, concluding that a prac- 

 tical iLLustration of the effects of one of those great 

 downward movements to which geology so repeatedly 

 bears witness would not be irrelevant to the assumed 

 consequences which I had previously ventured to define, 

 I have acted on that judgment; and, having finished 

 my task, will now proceed to notice, briefly, a few other 

 considerations which should not be omitted, when 

 inquiring into insect distribution as iafluenced by geolo- 

 gical phsenomena. 



