154 Transactions. — Zoology. 



that the dead moas could not be washed into swamps under 

 the present chmatic conditions, and the sohition of tlie pro- 

 blem is to be found in the fact that in Pleistocene times, when 

 these deposits of bones were formed, the climate was very- 

 different from what it is now. At that time the eccentricity of 

 the earth's orbit was very great, and, when winter in the 

 Southern Hemisphere happened in aphelion, long cold winters 

 were followed by short and very hot summers, which would 

 produce what has been called a pluvial, or, better, diluvial 

 period.''' The snows of the early winters would kill large 

 numbers of moas and other birds on the hills, and the summer 

 floods and avalanches would deposit their bodies in hollows, 

 or on the low ground at the foot of the hills. As the Pleis- 

 tocene period passed away the climate no doubt got more 

 equable, and the surviving moas once more increased and 

 multiplied. Some, perhaps, of the larger forms had succumbed 

 altogether before human beings visited the islands, but most 

 of the species were still living at that time, and were subse- 

 quently exterminated by the hand of man. 



Extinction of the Moas. 



The first collection of moa-bones, made by Mr. Colenso, 

 Mr. Williams, and Mr. Cotton, was obtained by Maoris chiefly 

 from the river-beds in the Waiapu and Poverty Bay districts. 

 In 1842 Mr. Colenso said that, although the true age of the 

 bones was not certainly known, he thought that " they will 

 be found lying in the upper stratum of the Secondary [Ter- 

 tiary] or the lower strata of the Tertiary [alluvial] formation," 

 and probably " in beds of shingle, the detritus of the deluge."! 

 "From native tradition," he said, "we gain nothing to aid us 

 in our inquiries after the probable age in which the animals 

 lived ; for, although the New-Zealander abounds in tradi- 

 tionary lore, both natural and supernatural, he appears to be 

 totally ignorant of anything concerning the moa save the 

 fabulous stories already referred to." The collections also of 

 Mr. Percy Earl and Dr. Mackellar, in 1846, were from an old 

 turbary deposit at Island Point, "Waikouaiti, of Pleistocene 

 age. I 



In 1847 the Hon. W. Mantell collected from the old Maori 

 cooking-places at Waingongoro, near Wanganui, and he was 



* For proofs of a pluvial Pleistocene period in Australia see Wilkinson, 

 Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, vol. ix., p. 1227 (lSS-1). For New Zealand, 

 see Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc, vol. xli., p. 213 (1885). 



t Tasraanian Jour. Science, 1843, vol. ii., p. 87 ; and Trans. N.Z. 

 Inst., vol. xii., p. 72. 



X Mantell, Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc, vol. iv., p. 238 ; and Amer. Assoc. 

 Proc, 1850, p. 252. 



