378 Zoological Society. 



3. " Outline of Geological Structure of North Wales." By the 

 Rev. A. Sedgwick, F.G.S. The official abstract of this paper has 

 already been inserted in the present volume, p. 246. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



November 28, 1843. — Prof. Owen read the second and concluding 

 part of his memoir on the Dinornis*. 



The arrival of the second box of specimens of the bones collected 

 by the Rev. W. Williams in Poverty Bay, New Zealand, which had 

 been placed by Dr. Buckland in Mr. Owen's hands, had enabled him 

 to confirm his former account of the generic characters and ordinal 

 affinities of the apparently extinct Dinornis, and also to distinguish 

 remains of five species of that genus. 



The bones of the foot, and especially the tarso-metatarsal bone, 

 established three distinct species, the largest of which the author 

 proposed to call Dinornis giganteus ; the next in point of size he 

 termed Din. struthioides , and the third Din. didiformis. The com- 

 mon generic characters of the tarso-metatarsi of these species were 

 first pointed out, and then their specific differences of proportion and 

 figure. The maturity of the different- sized bones indicating the 

 above species was demonstrated by reference to the long retention 

 of immature characters in the same bone of existing Strut hionidee, 

 and by the fact of a tarso-metatarsal bone of a half-grown Dinornis 

 giganteus manifesting the same incomplete coalescence of its primi- 

 tively distinct elements ; showing that the Dinornis, like the Ostrich, 

 had a tardy ossification of the skeleton, as compared with birds of 

 flight. The tibiae were next described ; one of these, belonging to a 

 mature bird, established a species smaller than the Din. didiformis, 

 and which, from its similarity of stature to the great Bustard (Otis 

 tarda), Prof. Owen proposed to call Dinornis otidiformis. The 

 largest tibia, belonging to the Din. giganteus, presented the extra- 

 ordinary dimensions of two feet eleven inches. The shaft of a 

 smaller tibia, about two feet long when entire, was referred to the 

 Din. struthioides, and there were four entire tibiae of the Din. didi- 

 formis. In the series of femora, after the description of the generic 

 characters of the bone, the specimens were pointed out which be- 

 longed to the Dinornithes giganteus, struthioides, didiformis, and oti- 

 diformis, and two other entire femora were described and their di- 

 stinctive characters shown, which indicated, unequivocally in the 

 author's opinion, a fifth species of Dinornis, of the size of the Emeu, 

 and which was, therefore, named Din. dromceoides. 



Three pelves, more or less perfect, and portions of two others, 

 were described, and were referred to the Din. giganteus, dromceoides, 

 and didiformis. Three cervical and two dorsal vertebrae also indi- 

 cated three distinct species of Dinornis, and all of them presented 

 the common character of unusual strength of the spinous and trans- 

 verse processes. Comparative dimensions of most of the bones ex- 

 hibited were given. No part of the skull, sternum, ribs or wing- 



* See Proceedings of the Zoological Society, January 1843 [also Phil. 

 Mag. S. 3. vol. xxii. p. 558]. 



