The geographical distribution of animals, with a study of the relations ...

—chap, xiii.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 459Land-Shells.—Of these, 114 species are known, 97 beingpeculiar. 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 isJanella. Testacella and Limax belong to the Palsearctic region.From the Chatham Islands, 82 species of shells are known,all being New Zealand species, except nine, which arepeculiar.Tlie Ancient Fauna of New Zealand.—One of the most remarkablefeatures of the New Zealand fauna, is the existence,till quite recent times, of an extensive group of wingless birds,—calledMoas 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 thesesingular remains, is that by Dr. Haast, who, from a study ofthe extensive series of specimens in the Canterbury museum,believes, that they belong to two families, distinguished byimportant differences of structure,and constitute four genera,Dinornis and Miornis, forming the family Dinornithidse;Palapteryx and Euryapteryx, forming the family Palapterygidae.These were mostly larger birds than the living Apteryx, andsome of them much larger even than the African ostrich, andwere more allied to the Casuariidse and Struthionidae than tothe Apterygidse. No less than eleven species of these birdshave been discovered; all are of recent geological date, andthere are indications that some of them may have been inexistence less than a century ago, and were really exterminatedby man. Eemains have been found (of apparentlythe same recent date) of species of Apteryx, Stringops, Ocydromus,and many other living forms, as well as of Harpagornis,a large bird of prey, and Gnemiornis, a gigantic goose. Bodiesof the Hatteria 'punctata have also been found along with thoseof the Moa, showing that this remarkable reptile was once moreabundant on the main islands than it is now.TJie Origin of the New Zealand Fauna.—Having now given