Vol. II., No. 6, NOVEMBER, 1884. 
THE ORIGIN OF THE FAUNA AND FLORA OF 
NEW ZEALAND. 
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BY -CARLAIN. F, W..HUDTTON, F.G.S5. 
-_-———_—--?- 
Il. 
THE ANTARCTIC AND NORTH TEMPERATE ELEMENTS.* 
In my address last year I pointed out that the immigrant 
part of our fauna and flora could be divided into five elements, 
viz—(1) Australian, (2) Polynesian, (3) S. American, (4) Antarc- 
tic, and (5) N. Temperate. I explained that of these elements 
the first three had invaded New Zealand together from the north 
at three different epochs. The first invasion was in the lower 
cretaceous, when New Zealand formed part of a large South 
Pacific continent,f extending from New Guinea to Chili. The 
second was in the eocene period, the third in the pliocene, during 
both of which times New Zealand was an island, although consi- 
derably larger than at present ; but I had to postpone the proof 
of the pliocene upheaval. We now come to the.consideration of 
the two remaining elements—the Antarctic and the North Tem- 
perate—and we have to enquire at what time they came. 
The Antarctic element, as we shall presently see, must have 
invaded New Zealand from the south. It consists of plants, sea 
birds, fresh-water fishes, marine fishes, marine crustacea, and 
marine shells. There are also a few insects—such as the beetles 
FHleterodactylus and Pristancylus of the Auckland Islands—but 
no land birds, nor land mollusca. A very large portion of the 
North Temperate element no doubt came with the Antarctic 
forms ; for, as we saw in my last address, the percentage of en- 
demic species of plants belonging to each element is almost 
identical. These probably travelled to the southern hemisphere 
by the chain of the Andes, and then spread with the Fuegian 
plants. But several of our plants, insects, and arachnids are 
allied to northern forms, and have no near relations in South 
America. These probably migrated to us direct by the moun- 
tains of the Indian Archipelago at the same time that we were 
invaded by the Australian and Polynesian floras. This latter 
portion I shall leave out of consideration, and shall confine my 
attention solely to the invasion from the south by both the 
Antarctic and N. Temperate elements. 
* Annual Address to the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, delivered 6th 
Nov., 1884. For Part I., see N.Z, JoURNAL oF SCIENCE, II., p. 1; and Ann, and 
Blag. Nat. Hist., Series 5, Vol. 13, p. 425. 
+ M. A, Milne Edwards appears to have advocated, in 1874, the hypothesis 
that New Zealand had formerly been joined to some islands of Polynesia, while it 
remained separated from Australia, Ihave not seen his paper, (See N.Z, Jour, 
Sc., L, p. 258, footnote.) 
