New Zealand Cyrtidae — PARAMONOV 
that before the glaciation, etc., New Zealand 
had many rather peculiar elements. These 
elements do not show a very close relation- 
ship with the Australian fauna, but reflect 
more an affinity to the American fauna and 
possibly to the fauna of the Antarctic con- 
tinent. 
At the present state of our knowledge it is 
difficult to state the cause of the glaciation in 
New Zealand. If we accept Wegener’s theory 
of the drifting continents, we can accept the 
drift of New Zealand to the polar area, which 
destroyed the more warmth-liking elements, 
and then back-drift to the warmer areas. As a 
result of the very marked isolation by the vast 
surface of ocean there was no possibility of 
receiving again the warmth-liking elements. 
If we examine the families of Nematocera 
and compare them with those of Australia, 
we will see that no families of Nematocera 
are absent from the New Zealand fauna, some 
of them even (for example Tipulidae) are rep- 
resented much better than they are in Aus- 
tralia. In general the nematocerous families 
are more typical of cold areas throughout the 
world. This comparative richness of the New 
Zealand fauna in Nematocera is in close har- 
mony with the drifting theory: New Zealand 
has received its cold-liking elements from the 
Antarctic area. 
However, there are facts in contradiction to 
this idea. The family Cordyluridae, which is 
typical of the cold areas of the Northern 
Hemisphere, is absent in New Zealand; also 
the genus Tapeigaster (Neottiophilidae) is ab- 
sent though nine species of the genus are very 
common in Australia, living on mushrooms. 
Also, not without significance is the absence 
of the families Heteroneuridae, Sepsidae, 
Tanypezidae, and Thyreophoridae (the last 
family has some representatives in Australia, 
which live mostly, in the winter, on carrion). 
The absence of these flies possibly can be 
explained without difficulty, but, at the pres- 
ent, we do not have enough data about their 
distribution and life histories to explain it. 
In order to attack the problem as a whole 
19 
we must also consider the presence of some 
other elements, because the presence of these 
elements is also important to an understand- 
ing of the problem. Whence came the rem- 
nants of the warmth-liking elements? Only 
very few of them are true endemic species of 
New Zealand, the greater part of the species 
no doubt did not originate in New Zealand, 
but only persist there (for example the genus 
Helle). Probably the origin of similar forms 
was connected with the Antarctic land masses. 
If we reject the idea of the drift of continents 
it will be very difficult to explain the origin 
of forms such as the genus Helle. The distance 
between the Antarctic land masses and New 
Zealand is so great that if we suppose that 
the position of the south pole changed so 
that the whole Antarctic continent was situ- 
ated in latitudes which would permit the 
existence of animals adapted to a warm cli- 
mate, New Zealand would be situated in the 
tropical or equatorial area. However, there 
are no equatorial or tropical elements in its 
fauna (and flora). 
We can imagine the complicated relations 
between faunas if they changed their geo- 
graphical positions, but if we accept immov- 
ability of the continents, an explanation can- 
not be found. The theory of land-bridges of 
the authors of the last century is quite 
unacceptable, because it contradicts much 
geological data. 
In thus expressing his ideas the author is 
not definitely convinced in their correctness, 
however, from the material which he posseses 
the drifting theory of the continents is more 
acceptable than any other theory. Only an 
examination of all elements of the flora and 
fauna of New Zealand can furnish a firm 
basis for a correct interpretation, so we are 
still very far from this goal. However, a work- 
ing theory is useful for progress of our 
knowledge. 
Subfamily PANOPINAE 
Genus Apsona Westwood 
1876. Ent. Soc. London, Trans. 1876: 510. 
