HuTTON. — On the Moas of New Zealand. 



93 



Art. V. — The Moas of Neiv Zealand. 



By Captain F. W. Hutton, F.G.S. 



[Bead before the Pldlosoiihical Institute of Canterbury, 1st October and 



4th November, 1S91.2 



Plates XV.-XVII. 

 Contents. 



Introduction. 



Classification of the moas — 

 Families. 

 Genera. 

 Species. 

 Sexual differences. 



Characters of the Dinornithidae. 



Explanation of measurements. 



Table of ratios in the genera. 



Characters of the genera and species- 

 Genus Dinornis. 



Sub-genus Tylopteryx. 



Genus Palapteryx. 



Genus Anomalopteryx. 



Genus Cela. 



Genus Mesopteryx. 



Genus Syoniis. 



Genus Euryapteryx. 

 History of the moas — 



Origin of the Katitse. 



Advent of the moas in New Zealand. 



Development of the moas. 



Extinction of the moas. 

 Table of measurements of the species. 



Intkoduction. 



Nothing connected with the natural history of New Zealand 

 has attracted more attention than the extinct moas. Ever 

 since 1840, when Sir E. Owen announced to the scientific 

 world the former existence in New Zealand of a large 

 struthious bird, exceeding the ostrich in size, interest in the 

 subject has not flagged. And the discovery that the moas 

 were wingless, and had formerly existed in great numbers and 

 in great variety, opened up several new problems for naturalists 

 to solve. With the exception of the moas, every known bird, 

 whether living or dead, has wings. In some they are so 

 small as to be useless, as in the kiwi and the cassowary ; 

 while in the penguins they are used only for swimming. Still, 

 some kind of fore-limb exists in all birds but the moas. We 

 know that the moas were wingless, partly by the negative 

 evidence of no wing-bones having ever been found, and partly 

 by the positive evidence of the skeleton, which has no cavity 

 for the articulation of a wing, and in many cases does not 

 show the existence of any shoulder-girdle at all. However, 

 as wall presently appear, it is probable that one genus of moas 

 (Palapteryx) had rudimentary wings like the kiwi. 



Our knowledge of the moas, of their structure and of their 

 history, is very fragmentary, and the information is scattered 

 through various publications. There is considerable confusion 

 in the characters given of the different species, and different 

 ojoinions are held as to when the moas came to New Zealand 

 and when they became extinct. Under these circumstances 

 I have thought that an attempt to clear up the confusion and 

 to give a connected account of what is known on the subject 

 would prove useful as a basis for further investigation. With 



