242 
Psyche 
[September 
The Thynnidse, also well represented in South America, 
illustrate the discontinuous distribution of ancient groups; 
and the fact that the New Caledonia species can be placed 
(if not quite comfortably) in an Australian genus indicates 
the great antiquity of the general type. The family is prob- 
ably as old as the mesozoic. New Caledonia has doubtless, 
during its long history, experienced many changes of level, 
and there are reasons for thinking that it has at times been 
reduced to a much smaller area, and at other times con- 
nected with the Loyalty Islands, which have a very similar 
fauna. West and South of New Caledonia is a great sub- 
marine bank, extending to New Zealand, and including 
near its western edge Lord Howe Island. In Lord Howe 
Island we have a very remarkable assemblage of land snails, 
including the genus Placostylus and (as Mr. T. Iredale 
pointed out to me) Platyrhytida; characteristic New Cal- 
edonia genera. North of Lord Howe Island are reefs danger- 
ous to shipping, representing former islands. As we passed 
one of them, on which the wreck of a large vessel could be 
seen, it was impossible to avoid a feeling of disappointment 
at the loss of the interesting fauna and flora which must 
have flourished there in early times. Even in Lord Howe 
Island, where so many interesting relics survived, the 
fauna is rapidly disappearing as the result of the accidental 
introduction of rats. 
I have recently described a bee ( Paracolletes philonesus 
Ckll.) collected by A. R. McCulloch on Lord Howe Island, 
and now in the Australian Museum. It belongs to an Aus- 
tralian genus, which also occurs in New Zealand, but not 
in New Caledonia. The female is about 9.5 mm. long, and 
runs in my table near P. metallescens Ckll. but has the 
abdomen dull, not metallic, hardly punctured. The wings 
are brownish; second cubital cell broad at base, greatly 
contracted above. It may be that Paracolletes will yet be 
found in the mountains of New Caledonia; in Australia it 
is richly developed in the temperate portion, but there is a 
small species (P. tropicalis Ckll.) on Melville Island, off the 
north coast. 
