CHAP. XIII.] 
THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 
459 
Land-Shells . — Of these, 114 species are known, 97 being 
peculiar. Three species of Helix are also found in Australia, 
and five more in various tropical islands of the Pacific. Nanina , 
Lymncea, and Assiminea, are found in Polynesia or Malaya, 
but not in Australia. Amphibola is an Australian genus, as is 
Janella. Testacella and Limax belong to the Pakearctic region. 
Prom the Chatham Islands, 82 species of shells are known, 
all being New Zealand species, except nine, which are peculiar. 
The Ancient Fauna of New Zealand. — One of the most re- 
markable features of the New Zealand fauna, is the existence, 
till quite recent times, of an extensive group of wingless birds, 
— called Moas by the natives — many of them of gigantic size, 
and which evidently occupied the place which, in other countries, 
is filled by the mammalia. The most recent account of these 
singular remains, is that by Dr. Haast, who, from a study of 
the extensive series of specimens in the Canterbury museum, 
believes, that they belong to two families, distinguished by 
important differences of structure, and constitute four genera, — 
Hinornis and Miornis, forming the family Dinornithidae ; 
Palaptetyx and Eury apteryx, forming the family Palapterygidae, 
These were mostly larger birds than the living Apteryx , and 
some of them much larger even than the African ostrich, and 
were more allied to the Casuariidae and Struthionidae than to 
the Apterygkhe. No less than eleven species of these birds 
have been discovered; all are of recent geological date, and 
there are indications that some of them may have been in 
existence less than a century ago, and were really exter- 
minated by man. Remains have been found (of apparently 
the same recent date) of species of Apteryx , Stringops, Ocydro - 
mios, and many other living forms, as well as 'of Harpagornis , 
a large bird of prey, and Cnemiornis, a gigantic goose. Bodies 
of the Hatteria punctata have also been found along with those 
of the Moa, showing that this remarkable reptile was once more 
abundant on the main islands than it is now. 
The Origin of the New Zealand Fauna. — Having now given 
