DISCOVERIES IN AVIAN PALEONTOLOGY. 407 



other RatitcE. The conclusions he arrives at are of con- 

 siderable interest. Milne Edwards and Grandidier expressed 

 an opinion that JEpyornis is related to the Dinornit hides, 

 coming between that family and the Australasian Ratites, 

 Casuarius and Dromceus, the latter of which according to 

 some writers is the most primitive of the group. Burck- 

 hardt also considers that JEpyornis is most closely related 

 to Casuarius and Dromczus, but believes that the resem- 

 blances between it and Dinomis are merely the result of 

 parallelism in evolution, the skeleton in both cases having 

 become extremely massive. On the other hand, he believes 

 that in some of the characters of the pelvis and other parts 

 of the skeleton, and also in the structure of the egg-shell, 

 jEpyornis approaches Struthio, and suggests that from the 

 primitive Dromczus-Casuarius stock the Dinornithidce and 

 Apteryx were descended on the east, while towards the 

 west a branch arose which split up into the /Epyornithidce 

 and Strut hionidcz. This view, though it may perhaps ap- 

 pear to be supported by the geographical distribution of the 

 families concerned, cannot be regarded as established. The 

 structure of the skull and shoulder-oirdle and sternum when 

 known will probably settle this question. 



At the beginning of 1894 the present writer described 

 {17, 18) a species of yEpyornis, /E. Titan, far larger than 

 any then known. The tibia is about thirty-one inches long, 

 enormously massive, even more so than that of Pachyornis 

 elephantopus. In January of the same year Milne Edwards 

 and Grandidier (19) published a preliminary notice of a very 

 large collection of AEpyornis remains. They name some four 

 or five new species of sEpyornis, and establish a new genus, 

 Mullerornis, for the reception of three smaller forms of 

 more slender build than Aipyornis. A large part of the 

 skeleton of one of the new species is very briefly described. 

 The skull is said to be less flattened than that of Dinomis, 

 and at the same time narrower and longer ; the brain was 

 proportionately considerably larger. The mandible some- 

 what resembles that of Rhea, while the sternum ap- 

 proaches that of Apteryx in structure. The coraco- 

 scapula is small, and bears a shallow glenoid cavity for the 



