396 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
Indian. About thirty kinds of snakes are known, but 
only six or seven of these are dangerous. Mr. de Yis 
classes them in seventeen genera, of which all but four 
are Australian—a proportion which strongly suggests 
community of origin in former ages. “ But on the other 
hand/’ he writes, “ when we descend to species we find 
that fewer than a third of these are Australian as well as 
Papuan, and that these few include the fresh-water and 
tree snakes, which have exceptional means of spreading 
from one land to another. . . . The process of trans¬ 
formation has, therefore, been carried on for a consider¬ 
able time, but has not endured long enough to effect 
more than specific changes, save in one instance. So 
that we are led by the testimony of the snakes to the 
same conclusion as that gathered from a review of the 
lizards, namely, that New Guinea was separated from 
Australia at no very modern period.” 
Although perhaps scarcely equalling those of South 
America, the insects of New Guinea offer a great variety 
of strange forms and gorgeous hues. Conspicuous among 
the butterflies both for size and colouring are the green 
and gold Ornithopteras of the 0. priamus type, the 
female of which exceeds seven inches across the wings. 
Still more beautiful is Pctpilio penelope with its metallic 
blue colouring—a common species, and, like the first, of 
Moluccan type. Beetles are hardly less conspicuous and 
interesting. The class, however, is as yet only partially 
known, and is less to be relied upon to throw light on 
the former connections of the island than any other. 
The Molluscan fauna, on the other hand, is of great 
assistance in this respect. It is the richest, and by far 
the most original, of all the Australasian region. To 
quote the words of Mr. A. H. Cooke, “ We find ourselves, 
almost in a moment, in a district full of new and singular 
