Hamilton. — On the Genus Aptornis. 175 



rhinoceros, hippopotamus, hyaena, and tiger, which are so 

 common in the old European gravels." This extract seems to 

 confirm the destructive properties of peat ; and I believe that 

 all the remains of the Irish elk from the bogs of Ireland are 

 from the clay- or marl-beds immediately at the base of the 

 peat. 



Since writing the above I have seen large peat-deposits in 

 Southland at a much lower level. In one place, at the 

 Mararoa Station, near Mount Excelsior, the peat has been 

 regularly worked for years for burnizig. Here also moa-stones 

 occur in profusion. The process of cutting also exposed the 

 fragments of perished bones. I carefully examined this de- 

 posit, and found it to consist almost entirely of Galoroplms ; 

 and the Sp/ia(/7iz«?i which forms the majority of peat-mosses in 

 England was entirely absent. 



I should have mentioned above that the nearest place at 

 which the quartz pebbles could be procured is at the outcrop 

 of the Otago schist formation, distant from Swampy Hill 

 about four miles. The weight of the largest stone in the two 

 collections is a little over l^oz. 



Art. VII. — On the Genus Aptornis, with more Especial Be- 

 ference to Aptornis defossor. Given. 



By A. Hamilton. 



[Read before the Otago Institute, 8th November, 1891.] 



As long ago as the year 1842 Dr. Buckland received from 

 New Zealand a collection of moa-bones from the east coast 

 of the North Island, forwarded to him by the Eev. W. 

 Williams. On examining this collection Professor Owen 

 found ample confirmation of his previous determination of the 

 cursorial character of the specimens on which he had founded 

 his genus Dinornis in the year 1839. 



Among the bones in this collection he found a tibia " which 

 unequivocally establishes a fourth species of Cursorial bird, 

 which, from the agreement of the bone in its general characters 

 with the tibise of the larger species, most probably belonged 

 to the same genus — Dinornis — but did not surpass in size 

 the great bustard" {Otis tarda). This species the Professor 

 named Dinornis otidiformis (1843). 



Tmie passed on, and furtlaer collections of bones were made 

 in New Zealand and sent Home (1846), and in the memoir on 

 the genus Palapteryx a fragmentary femur is allotted to the 



