170 Zoological Society : — 



June 23, 1846, and figured in pi. 48,- figs. 4 and 5, voliiii. of the 

 * Zoological Transactions,' that I alluded to it as " representing the 

 pachy dermal type and proportions in the feathered class*," and the 

 hone unquestionably indicated at that period *' the strongest and 

 most robust of birds." By the side of the metatarsus of the species 

 which I have now to describe, and for which I propose the name of 

 elephantopus, that of the Dinornis crassus, however, shrinks to 

 moderate, if not slender dimensions. But the peculiarities of the 

 elephant-footed Dinornis stand out still more conspicuously when 

 the bones of its lower limbs are contrasted with those of the Dinornis 

 giganteus. 



I propose, in the present memoir, to combine with the account of 

 the leg- and foot-bones of the Dinornis elephantopus, that of the 

 bones of the lower limb of the Dinornis crassus, which had not pre- 

 viously been described, and to bring out their characteristics by 

 comparison with the bones of other species, especially those of the 

 Dinornis robustus. 



Commencing with the femur, I shall premise the following table 

 of admeasurements of that bone in Dinornis : — 



Dimensions of the femur in D. robustiis. D.elephanfopm. D. crassus. 



In. Lines. In. Lines. In. Lines. 



Length 14 2 13 11 10 



Transverse breadth of proximal end 6 5 10 4 5 



Fore-and-aft breadth of do 5 4 5 3 9 



Transverse breadth of distal end ... 6 5 11 4 7 



Fore-and-aft breadth of do 4 3 3 9 3 5 



Circumference, least, of shaft 710 7 9 6 



The above comparative dimensions bring out the characteristic 

 proportions of the femur of the Dinornis elephantopus, as shown by 

 its greater thickness and strength. As compared with the femur of 

 the Dinornis robustus, this character is remarkably exemplified on a 

 comparison of their articular extremities. Had these parts alone 

 of the Dinornis elephantopus been preserved and submitted to me, I 

 should have scarcely ventured upon a conclusion as to their specific 

 distinction from the Dinornis giganteus or Dinornis robustus^ the 

 correspondence of configuration being so close, and the difference of 

 size so slight. 



The articular surface is continued from the head upon the upper 

 part of the neck, expanding as it approaches the great trochan- 

 ter, along the summit of which it is terminated by a ridge. In 

 both species the surface for attachment of the ligamentum teres is 

 formed, as it were, by a portion of the inner and back part of the 

 hemisphere having been cut off obliquely with a slight excavation. 

 The corresponding ligamentous surface in the head of the femur of 

 the Dinornis crassus is relatively smaller, less depressed and less 

 defined. The upper and fore part of the trochanter is less produced 

 relatively to the breadth of the supra-trochanterian articular surface 

 in the Dinornis elephantopus. In this species the sub-circular rough 

 surface for the attachment of the iliacus internus muscle is relatively 



» lb. p. 325. 



