234 Zoological Society. 



Trans, vol. iii. pp. 252, 264). The tarso-metatarsus also shows the 

 rough elliptical surface for the attachment of the hack-toe, indicating 

 the Din. dromioides to belong to the same generic or subgeneric sec- 

 tion as Din. ingens from the North Island. 



Femora, tibia and tarso-metatarsi, from the Middle Island, were 

 next exhibited and described, which establish a new species, for 

 which Prof. Owen proposed the name of Din. casuarinus : a small 

 and feeble depression, five lines by three lines, indicates that this 

 species had a back-toe in the corresponding position with that in the 

 Apteryx, but more rudimental. 



A very remarkable femur and tarso-metatarsal bone, also from 

 the Middle Island, were exhibited, belonging to an additional tri- 

 dactyle species, to which the name of Dinornis crassus was given. 

 Of this species the author remarks : " With a stature nearly equal to 

 that of the Ostrich, the femur and tarso-metatarsus present double 

 the thickness in proportion to their length. It must have been the 

 strongest and most robust of birds, and the best representative of 

 the pachydermal type in the feathered class." 



The third new species is comparatively a small one, being inter- 

 mediate in size between the Dinornis didiformis and the Din. otidi- 

 formis ; it was founded on remains exclusively from the North Island, 

 and was called by the author Dinornis curtus. 



The paper (which was illustrated by numerous figures) concluded 

 by some general comparisons and remarks on the geographical 

 distribution of the different species of Dinornis. 



July 14, 184G. — Prof. Owen communicated, as an 'Appendix to 

 his Memoir on the Dinornis,' some observations on the skull and on 

 the osteology of the foot of the Dodo (Didus ineptus). 



After a brief summary of the history of this remarkable extinct 

 brevipennate Bird, in which the reduced highly finished figure by 

 Savery, in his famous painting of ' Orpheus charming the Beasts,' 

 now in the collection at the Hague, was particularly noticed ; and 

 the recent discovery of the skull of the Dodo amongst some old spe- 

 cimens in the Museum of Natural History at Copenhagen was men- 

 tioned, he proceeded to demonstrate the peculiarities of the Dodo's 

 skull, by a comparison of the cast of the head of the bird in the Ash- 

 molean Museum at Oxford with those of other recent and extinct 

 species of Birds. 



The Dodo's skull differs from that of any species of Vulturidce, or 

 any Raptorial Bird, in the greater elevation of the frontal bones above 

 the cerebral hemispheres, and in the sudden sinking of the inter- 

 orbital and nasal region of the forehead ; in the rapid compression 

 of the beak anterior to the orbits ; in the elongation of the compressed 

 mandibles, and in the depth and direction of the sloping symphysis 

 of the lower jaw. The eyes of the Dodo are very small compared 

 with those of the Vulturidce or other Raptores. The nostrils, it is 

 true, pierce the cere, but are more advanced in position ; this how- 

 ever seems essentially to depend upon the excessive elongation of 

 the basal part of the upper mandible before the commencement of the 

 uncinated extremity ; the nostrils are pierced near the commence- 



