HECREATIVE SCIENCE. 



45 



tb.e structure of its feathers, which are much 

 broader throughout, especially at the tip, 

 and of a loose, decomposed, hair-like charac- 

 ter. The wing is even more rudimentary 

 than in the Apteryx Australis" — Proc. Zool. 

 Soc, 1847, p. 93. 



"When Mr. Strange wrote, he was un- 

 acquainted with the existence of the Apteryx 

 Owenii, and therefore speaks of his Fire- 

 man as " a second species ; " but when it 



comes to be accurately known, it will form 

 the third. 



The eggs of the Apteryx, as more recent 

 discoveries prove, are of large size, compared 

 with the body of the bird, and the young 

 are hatched with complete clothing, and 

 capable of using the beak and legs with due 

 effect, reminding us in this respect of the 

 mound-making birds of Australia. 



W. C. L. Maetin. 



THE " CONSECEATIO " COINS OF THE EOMAN EMPEEOES 

 AND THEIE FAMILIES. 



IN TWO PAET3. — PAET I. 



AMOna the fine series of Eoman coins known 

 as the '"large brass," none are more inte- 

 resting than those technically termed the 

 "consecratio" coins. These remarkable 

 pieces of, money, struck to commemorate the 

 apotheoses of some of the Eoman emperors, 

 and other members of the reigning families 

 who successively occupied the imperial 

 throne, are frequently of very fine execution, 

 and generally bear some very striking, and 

 more or less symbolic device. The magni- 

 ficent funereal rites lavished on the remains 

 of the great or powerful, have, from the 

 earliest times to the decline of Paganism, 

 been of an impressive character, and have, 

 more or less, according to the manners and 

 genius of the people, embodied some of 

 the leading religious convictions of the time. 

 In the space, however, of a short detached 

 article like the present, it would be impossible 

 even to allude to the rites connected with 

 the interment of the dead, as practised among 

 the Egyptians, Assyrians, Jews, or other 

 ancient peoples. But in order to exhibit and 

 explain the source of the earliest devices 

 used on the consecrational coins of the Eo- 

 mana, it wiU be necessary to allude, in some 



detail, to the funereal honours paid to the 

 remains of Alexander the Great, which were 

 performed under the auspices of the first 

 Ptolemy, King of Egypt, the earliest occasion 

 known on which coins were struck in com- 

 memoration of such an event, and bearing a 

 device connected with some of its leading 

 features. 



After tne death of the Macedonian con- 

 queror, at Babylon, in the year 323 before 

 the Christian era, the vast possessions sub- 

 dued by the Grecian arms were seized upon 

 by his powerful lieutenants, to the prejudice 

 of his infant son by the celebrated Eoxana, 

 and in defiance of the efforts of his half 

 brother, Philip, who had been appointed 

 regent. Egypt fell to the lot of Ptolemy 

 Lagus, who succeeded, partly by superior 

 diplomacy and partly by force, in retain- 

 ing permanent possession of that noble pro- 

 vince. In order to give a colour to his 

 assumed right as the successor of Alex- 

 ander, he conceived the idea of claiming the 

 remains of his former sovereign, for the pur- 

 pose of depositing them in the city which 

 he had founded, and which bore his name. 

 The demand was the more plausible, inas* 



