94 Transactions. — Zoology. 



this object in view I have beau collecting materials for some 

 time. I have examined most of the collections in New 

 Zealand, and I have collated all the measm'ements hitherto 

 published — those by Sir R. Owen in the Transactions of the 

 Zoological Society ; those by Sir James Hector in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Zoological Society for 1865 (p. 751) ; as well 

 as those given in various volumes of the Transactions of the 

 New Zealand Institute by Sir Julius von Haast, Mr. Thorne, 

 Mr. Taylor White, and by myself. Mr. Aug. Hamilton has 

 also supplied me with measurements of all the leg-bones 

 found in the Patangata Swamp, near Te Aute — a large and 

 valuable collection which has been most useful to me. I have 

 also to thank Sir James Hector, Professor T. J. Parker, Mr. 

 H. 0. Forbes, Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, and Mr. E. J. Kingsley, for 

 allowing me to examine the collections of moa-bones in the 

 Museums of Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch, Auckland, 

 and Nelson respectively. In addition, I have received valu- 

 able information from private collectors, including IMr. F. W. 

 Stubbs; Mr. Mitchell, of Manapouri Station; Mr. W. Colenso; 

 and the Hon. W. Mantell ; to all of whom I here tender my 

 best thanks. The magnificent series of plates published by 

 Sir R. Owen in the Transactions of the Zoological Society, 

 and reissued in his " Extinct Birds of New Zealand," have 

 made the collections in London known to all naturalists, and 

 they have been of the greatest use to me. In my paper I 

 have quoted these plates from the "Extinct Birds," and not 

 from the Transactions of the Zoological Society, because the 

 former is to be found in all good libraries in New Zealand, 

 while the latter are very rare. 



By the means just enumerated I have become possessed of 

 an amount of information far greater than has been got to- 

 gether before, and it has, I think, enabled me to clear up the 

 classification of the moas, as well as to throw some new light 

 on their distribution and history. My work is founded on the 

 measurement of the leg-bones of individual birds belonging to 

 sixteen different species, and from these I have inferred with 

 considerable certainty the proportions of the leg-bones in the 

 other species. There is still, however, in many cases much 

 conjecture in jjlacing the other bones of the skeleton with the 

 legs. In those genera of which I have seen a considerable 

 number of skulls, sterna, and pelves, the chance of error is 

 small in assigning the largest bones to the largest legs, and 

 vice vcrsii, and then fitting in the intermediate forms. And 

 when we have an occasional check in an iiadividual skeleton the 

 chances of error are further reduced. Again, geographical 

 distribution sometimes gives a clue to the assignment of bones, 

 some species being found in both Islands, and others only in 

 one. And, lastly, we have relative numbers to help us, as the 



