Miscellaneous. 285 



Crown of the head and back of the neck dull bronzy green ; back 

 green, passing into bronzy green on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; 

 chin and sides of the neck green, gradually passing into the beautiful 

 blue of the throat and abdomen ; under tail-coverts largely developed 

 and of a pure white ; tail black, with steel-blue reflexions ; wings 

 purplish brown ; bill black ; feet brown. 



Total length, 4| inches; bill, l£ ; wing, 2J-; tail, 2. 



Remark. — About the same size as, and similar in every respect to, 

 T. Buffonii, Lesson, but differs from it in the throat and abdomen 

 being beautiful blue instead of green. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



EGGS OF THE MOA OR DINORNIS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



Dr. Mantell has just received from his son, Mr. Walter Mantell 

 of Wellington, New Zealand, fragments of several eggs found im- 

 bedded with the bones of the Moa ; these are the first relics of this 

 kind hitherto discovered. The portions in Dr. Mantell's possession 

 evidently belong to several eggs, and apparently to different species 

 of the Moa. In their general aspect they resemble the eggs of the 

 Ostrich, but the external surface of the shell, instead of being marked 

 with small circular pits, is covered with short, interrupted, linear 

 grooves, and which are variously disposed in different specimens. 

 The shell is relatively thinner than that of the Ostrich, and the egg 

 must have been much larger, for the fragments have but a very slight 

 degree of convexity. Mr. Mantell succeeded in collecting an exten- 

 sive series of bones (between 700 and 800) of different parts of the 

 skeleton ; among which are specimens of the mandibles, which have 

 not previously been obtained. This collection is on its way to 

 England, and will doubtless furnish some interesting additions to 

 our knowledge of the remarkable gigantic birds of the Ostrich tribe 

 which once trod the soil of New Zealand. 



FOSSIL TREE. 



At Wettin, near Halle, in Prussian Saxony, a fossil tree with its 

 roots has lately been found in a quarry, and is completely denudated 

 from the surrounding stone. It is fourteen feet high, it reaches the 

 surface, where it is cut off, and its roots run out several feet in a 

 nearly horizontal direction. It is an Araucaria, and the wood is par- 

 tially transformed into Hornstein and partially into claystone (Thon- 

 stein). The stone consists of a sandstone with a cement of clay- 

 stone, in which many fragments of feldspar are lying, and it rests 

 upon a conglomerate of the formation of pit-coal (Steinkohle). The 

 stratum of this stone-formation, in which the tree extends its roots, 

 has an angle of inclination of 10°, and the tree stands perpendicularly 

 upon it; while the strata lie nearly horizontally over the roots, 

 though the stone-formation is the same. In the stratum of the root 

 there are numerous leaves of a Borassites, of which a complete fan has 

 also been found. — J. O. W. in the Gardener's Chronicle for Sept. 11, 

 1847. 



