INTRODUCTION. 
XXXV 
^ Jl ^ 
c, a ^ nsu l ar period, ending in another continent still disconnected from Australia and 
j- or „ ’ v lcd continent again sank, and New Zealand assumed somewhat of its present 
gone 'thro^' ^ Walkce ’ commentin g on this, in his ‘Island Life,’ says:— “ If New Zealand has really 
in the U ° U8 . h SUCl1 a Series of cb anges as here suggested, some proofs of it might perhaps be obtained 
to the ° Utlymg lslands w hich were once, presumably, joined with it. And this gives great importance 
w jInen t the aborigines of the Chatham Islands, that the Apteryx formerly lived there, but 
Norfolk^ minated ab ° Ut 1835- Pt is to be bo P ed that some search will be made here and also in 
disc' b b °th of which it is not improbable remains either of Apteryx or Dinornis might be 
^ 180 Pai we dnd nothing to object to in the speculations of Captain Hutton, with which, 
Antal 0 C .° ntlaiy ’ We almost wholly agree ; but we cannot follow him when he goes on to suggest an 
Soutl^Af -° nt ! nent Uriltl11 " New Zealand and Australia with South America, and probably also with 
that all th ^ ^ t0 eXplain tbe existin g distribution of Struthious birds. . . . The suggestion 
and that StlUtbl ° US bbds of tbe world sprang from a common ancestor at no very remote period, 
noiv ini , l , W GX1Stbl ® distribution is due to direct land communication between the countries they 
distributio * ^ ° ne Utt6lly °PP°sed to all sound principles of reasoning in questions of geographical 
t k ^ e have direct proof that the Struthious birds had a wider range in past times 
NorthT ^ ' kemamS ° f extinct dlheas have been found in Central Brazil, and those of Ostriches in 
Fno-la j K ^ ’ Wbbe rema ’ ns ’ believed to be of Struthious birds, are found in the Eocene deposits of 
possible t AS intei Vening sea a PPe a rs to be not more than about 1500 fathoms deep it is quite 
have bee ^ ^ am ° Unt of sub sidence may have occurred. It is possible, too, that there may 
Island^tl aU eXb nS10n n °rthward to the Kermadec Islands, and even further to the Tonga and Fiji 
and those ^ ^ P robable ’ or we should find more community between their productions 
later period Zealand ’ A southern extension towards the Antarctic continent at a somewhat 
American andT^ m °-' e pi '° bable ’ as affordin g an easy passage for the numerous species of South- 
countries ntaiCtlC plants ’ and also for identical and closely allied freshwater fishes of these 
Prof 
(1874), ob'ecteci° n ™ ^ ‘ Anniversa H Address to the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury ’ 
as we are ac ^ai ^ the . ab ° Ve theory on the ground that the geological record of these islands, so far 
the land He Th ^ " ^ ^ Warrant our assuming such repeated changes in the level of 
good number ^f T Stat6S the case; — <<Ati unfortunate country, such as New Zealand, of which a 
distant c • ^ & s P ecaes op its fauna and flora show great resemblance to other species from 
establish c be cb PP ed down and brought up again a great many times in order to 
cross from the X1 ° nS vai * ous directions, so that a bird or fish, a shell, insect, or centipede might 
to pass ” But p 1 6 ^ the ° tber ’ moreover > without allowing any other species from the same country 
in an able . 10pebS01 Hutton, with a much broader grasp of the subject, returns to the discussion 
1884, vol. ii^ 10 6 ' ° n the ° rigin ° f the Fauna and Flora of New Zealand ’ (‘Journal of Science,’ 
an extensive 1 ^ WblCb ’ after fl ua bfying his former theory by abandoning the idea of 
with South A n aiCUC C ° ntlnent ’ and substituting a South-Pacific continent connecting New Zealand 
erica, he defends his views with considerable force of argument *. 
■which the various species of°M ^ ^ ^'° C01le dmes New Zealand was represented by a cluster of twenty or more islands, on 
then are that in early Me TG piobably developed, Professor Hutton thus sums up his conclusions : — “ Our general results 
Hew Zealand, Eastern Australia, and India formed one biological region, land probably 
