446 Zoological Society. 



of the gigantic New Zealand Bird form its most striking resemblance 

 to the Apteryx, to which it thus approximates more closely than to 

 any of the large existing Struthionidce. 



" The proportions of the leg-bones, their denser texture, especially 

 that of the femur, which, as in the Apteryx, contains no air, suffi- 

 ciently indicate the generic distinction of the great New Zealand 

 Bird from the tridactyle Emeu, Rhea, or Cassowary. The questions 

 then arise, — is it likewise generically distinct from the Apteryx ? or is 

 it a gigantic species of that genus ? These questions are determined 

 by the tarso- metatarsal bone. The Apteryx is distinguished from 

 the other StruthionidcB not more by its elongated bill than by the 

 presence of a fourth small toe on the inner and back part of the foot, 

 articulated to a slightly elevated rough surface of the tarso-metatarsal 

 about a fourth of the length of that bone from its trifid distal end. 

 There is no trace of this articular surface on the tarso-metatarsal of 

 the Gigantic Bird, which was consequently tridactyle, as in the Emeu, 

 Rhea, and Cassowary. The Dodo was tetradactyle, like the Apteryx ; 

 the shorter proportions of the legs of the Dodo also distinguish it 

 from the Gigantic Bird, whose career in the North Island of New Zea- 

 land was probably closed about the same period as that of the Dodo's 

 existence in the Isle of Rodriguez. 



" The fragments of the pelvis prove this to have been relatively 

 broader, behind the acetabula, than in the Ostrich, Emeu, or Apte- 

 ryx, its proportions being more like those of the Bustard. 



" The results of the foregoing comparisons justify the reference of 

 the Great Bird of New Zealand to a distinct genus in the Struthious 

 order, for which I propose the name Dinornis, with the specific ap- 

 pellation Novce Zealandice. 



*' The extraordinary size of the tibia above described — still more 

 that of the tibia said to measure two feet ten inches in length, ob- 

 tained by Mr. W. Williams, and mentioned in his letter to Dr. Buck- 

 land — prove the Dinornis of New Zealand to be the most gigantic 

 of known birds. There is little probability that it will ever be found, 

 whether living or extinct, in any other part of the world than the 

 islands of New Zealand, or parts adjacent. At all events, the Dinor- 

 nis Novee Zealandice will always remain one of the most extraordinary 

 of the zoological facts in the history of those islands ; and it may not 

 be saying too much to characterize it as one of the most remarkable 

 acquisitions to Zoology in general which the present century has pro- 

 duced." 



Mr. Ogilby then communicated his descriptions of two new spe- 

 cies of Baboon :• — 



" When at Frankfort in the year 1837 I saw in the museum of 

 that city two Baboons of the genus Cynocephalus, which my friend 

 Dr. Riippell had brought from Abyssinia. They were however con- 

 founded with the ' Babouin' of the French authors (C. sphinx), under 

 which name they are noticed in the ' Neue Wirbelthiere ' ; and though 

 I was too well acquainted with that species, from having frequently 

 seen an individual then living in the Surrey Zoological Gardens, to 



