44 Transactions .—Zoology . 



sents these same neck-bones as being in a state of perfect 

 preservation, and not in the least mineralised . ( m ) Mr. Low 

 affirms the same thing of the specimens which came into his 

 possession. How can we doubt the accuracy of this account, 

 seeing that the muscles adhering to these bones were capable 

 of being dissected ? Dr. Haast replies, it is true, to observa- 

 tions of this kind, that in Europe bones dating from the 

 Quaternary epoch have sometimes shown a remarkable degree 

 of preservation. He quotes particularly the facts established 

 by Messrs. De Ferry and Arcelin at Clos-du-Charnier, where 

 the bones and horns of the reindeer had retained the greater 

 part of their gelatine ; ( m ) but he forgets that none of these 

 bones have ever shown the least trace of muscles or tendons. 

 At Solutre, as in every other place where fossil bones have 

 been collected, the fleshy parts have entirely disappeared. 



It is just the preservation of the latter that gives to the 

 moa-remains studied by Dr. Hector their great historical signi- 

 ficance. It is, however, evident that there must have been 

 some exceptionally favourable circumstances so that a portion 

 of muscular and cutaneous tissue had escaped destruction, 

 whilst the greater part had disappeared. But it seems to 

 me impossible to imagine a combination of physical circum- 

 stances capable of preserving the tissues during centuries under 

 the conditions inseparable from the insular position of New 

 Zealand. ( m ) 



Thus all things concur to prove the final extinction of moas 

 as having taken place at a not distant period. There is con- 

 sequently no difficulty in accepting as true the information 

 collected by Sir George Grey and Messrs. Mantell, White, and 

 Hamilton. On the contrary, in admitting that some of the 

 large brevipennate birds still lived about a century ago, one 

 easily explains several well-established facts quite incom- 

 patible with Dr. Haast's theory, such as the existence of 

 tracks still quite discernible, the preservation of the shreds of 



(113.) " Without being in the least degree mineralised " (loc. cit., 

 p. 114). 



(114.) " L'Age du Renne en Maconnais " (International Congress of 

 Prehistoric Archeology, 1868) ; quoted by Dr. Haast, " Geology," p. 442). 



(115.) Such is also the opinion of M. Alphonse Edwards, whose 

 authority is unquestionable, in consequence of his position at the Museum 

 and his studies on fossil birds. This is what he was kind enough to 

 write to me on the subject : " Dr. Haast (' Geology,' &c.) recalls in aid of 

 his theory the discoveries made in Siberia of entire bodies of mammoths, 

 whose deaths took place in the Quaternary period. I do not share Dr. 

 Haast's opinion on this point, for, if these animals can be preserved indefi- 

 nitely in the frozen soil of Asia, it is not so in New Zealand, where, since 

 the prehistoric times, tho temperature has been very mild and the humi- 

 dity considerable. These conditions ought to facilitate the putrefaction 

 of bodies, whatever may have been the natural conditions of burial." 



