Forbes. — Additions to Extinct N.Z. Birds. 187 



length, and one 6-90in. Of the three thigh-bones in the col- 

 lection, all are shorter and considerably more slender than the 

 corresponding bone of the Dunedin skeleton, and markedly 

 shorter than the type figured by Sir Eichard Owen, while 

 one is larger, one smaller, and one equal to N. hochstetteri, 

 Meyer. Of these thigh - bones, one was discovered along 

 with one of the shorter leg-bones, and, though of the 

 opposite side of the body, probably belonged to the same 

 skeleton. Buller considers that the skin described by him in 

 the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, vol. xiv., 

 belonged to a specimen " slightly larger than the type speci- 

 men ; " and Meyer, of the Dresden Museum (for which the skin 

 was purchased), considering it a new species, has named it 

 Notornis hochstetteri, the original description of which is not 

 available to the author. In Professor Parker's paper, quoted 

 above, the length of the thigh-bone in the skeleton of this 

 identical specimen is given as 10-3 centimetres (4-06in.). The 

 same bone in the skeleton subsequently found is ll-2c. (4-43in.) 

 in length, with a tibia measuring 16-3c. (6-43in.) ; whereas 

 the femur of Owen's specimen is 12-4c. (4-89in.), with a 

 tibia (as the author thinks, erroneously) 19-83c. (7"83in.) 

 long. It follows, therefore, that Sir Walter has probably 

 written " larger " by a lapsus calami instead of smaller, and 

 that, of the bones in the present collection, three tibiae and 

 two femora (one of them from the Tertiary beds in Hawke's 

 Bay, collected by Mr. Hamilton) belong to the smaller sex of 

 Notornis hochstetteri, Meyer; while, if Professor Owen be 

 incorrect in his measurements, or in the bone, the longer tibia 

 from Te Ante will probably prove a true leg-bone of the male 

 of Notornis viantelli. The former differs by 0-83c. from the 

 length calculated for a femur of 12-40c. on the basis of the 

 Otago Museum specimen. The femur proportionate to a 

 tibia of 18-20c. would be 12-99c. long, on the same basis. If 

 the professor be correct, then none of the bones in this col- 

 lection belong to the type species, in which case the Otago 

 Museum skeleton belongs to a distinct species, for which the 

 author suggests the appellation of Notornis parheri, in honour 

 of Professor T. Jeffery Parker, F.E.S., to whom science is 

 indebted for a valuable paper on the comparative osteology of 

 this genus, founded on a skeleton which it w^as his great 

 fortune to prepare from the fresh body of the bird, with the 

 reverential feelings arising from the knowledge of its probably 

 being (as time, unfortunately, seems to prove more certamly) 

 the very last survivor of its race. 



The author next describes two species of Cnemiornis : 

 C. gracilis, a most elegantly moulded goose from th(i North 

 Island ; and Cnemiornis minor, founded on tibias now in the 

 Canterbury Museum, which for many years have passed as 



