VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY IN 1914 625 



Among its peculiarities are the cutting-off, by processes of 

 the parietals and nasals, of the frontals from the orbits, and the 

 apparent absence of lachrymals. 



In his account of the Fishes of the Terra Nova Expedition, 

 published by the British Museum, Mr. C. T. Regan dissents 

 from the opinion that the carnivorous mammals of the Pata- 

 gonian Santa Cruz beds are related to the Tasmanian thylacyne. 



Turning to birds, reference may be made to an important 

 article in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute for 

 1903 (vol. xlvi.), in which Mr. H. Hill gives a full account of 

 the history of the early discoveries of moa-remains in New 

 Zealand, together with a discussion as to their geological 

 age, and the probable date of extermination of these, for 

 the most part, giant birds. Contrary to the view generally 



FlG. 4. — Side view of skull of Poly mastodon. 

 (From Broom, op. cit.) 



accepted, that moas were killed off by the Maoris within the 

 last few centuries, the author asserts that these birds lived 

 only during the late Pleistocene — the epoch of intense volcanic 

 action in New Zealand, and that they all perished suddenly 

 as the result of such seismic disturbances and the emission 

 of poisonous vapours, long previous to the advent of the 

 Maoris or any other human race in the islands. Basing his 

 views solely on the result of observations on the east coast, Mr. 

 Hill observes that none of the numerous moa remains found in 

 caverns shows any evidence of having been touched by men or 

 dogs ; and he further considers that at the zenith of the great 

 seismic cataclysm the birds rushed to the upland caves for refuge 

 — where they were in many cases imprisoned by the fall of 

 pumice in front of the entrance — while others perished in the 

 open, choked by clouds of ashes or poisoned by noisome 



