176 Transactions. — Zoology. 



previously-described tibia. The bone was, however, so imper- 

 fect that only the circumference could be given in the table 

 of measurements of the bones of the leg in Dinornis. 



On the arrival of the great collection of Dinornithic re- 

 mains made by Mr. Walter Mantell in the South Island (1848), 

 several " tarso-metatarsal bones, with the articular surface 

 for a very strong hind-toe, and a conformation more resembling 

 the dodo than those of Dinornis or Palapterijx," were recog- 

 nised, and the special and extraordinary characters presented 

 by the bone decided the professor to establish a new genus 

 under the name of Aptornis, placing in this new genus the 

 bones hitherto ascribed to Dinornis otidiformis. A cranium in 

 the same collection was figured as probably that of Dinornis 

 casuarinus ; but when, in 1865, the Ealline characters of the 

 skull were recognised and fully and clearly pointed out by 

 Professor W. K. Parker, '•■ this skull w^as also assigned to 

 Aptornis. 



A further addition to the knowledge of the skeleton w^as 

 made by a description of the sternum, which was included in 

 a collection of bones from Waingongoro, on the west coast of 

 the North Island (1850). This was described and figured 

 both in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society and in the 

 "Extinct Birds of New Zealand," although in the text it is 

 assigned to Notornis or Brachypteryx. All of the bones hitherto 

 noticed may probably be classed as belonging to the smaller 

 of the two species now known, Aptornis otidiformis, Owen. 



No other bones of the genus were figured or described till 

 a memoir appeared on the Anserine genus Cnemiornis (18G5), 

 and a humerus was then figured and described which has smce 

 been more correctly assigned to Aptornis. From a collection 

 of bones forwarded by the Eev. Richard Taylor, of Wanganui, 

 Professor Owen found himself called upon to name a second 

 species of the genus, which he named Aptornis defossor, 

 principally from a beautiful specimen of a skull and some 

 other bones " discovered in a cave of soft sand about fourteen 

 miles from Oamaru, which was filled with bird-bones." The 

 monograph which resulted from the examination of these 

 bones concluded with a comparative table of the measurements 

 of the chief bones of the skeletons of the two species. 



From another collection of bones from a fissure at Albury, 

 near Tmiaru (1871), the sternum and pelvis of the larger species 

 were described, and a restoration of the complete skeleton 

 given. 



In 1873 two important papers on Cnemiornis appeared — • 

 one read before the Wellington Philosophical Society by Sir 



* Phil. Trans. Royal Soc, vol. clvi., p. 113 : " On the Structure and 

 Development of the Skull in the Ostrich Tribe ; " by W. K. Parker, F.Z.S. 



