De Quateefages. — On Moas and Moa-liunters. 17 



Art. V. — The Moas and the Moa-himtcrs . 



By Monsieur A. de Quatbefages. 



Translated from the French by Laura Buller. Communi- 

 cated by Sir Walter L. Buller, K.C.M.G., F.B.S. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, loth February, 1893.] 



When I published my first article in the "Journal des 

 Savants" on New Zealand and its inhabitants,^) we had 

 received in Europe only the three first volumes of the "Trans- 

 actions," in which are incorporated the proceedings of the 

 scientific societies of New Zealand. At that time I expressed 

 a regret that this compilation only contained one, and that a 

 very short, notice concerning the large brevipennate birds 

 designated by the common name of "moa."( 2 ) Since then this 

 deficiency has been remedied. The volumes which followed 

 brought us numerous papers dealing with the different ques- 

 tions which the history of these birds has given rise to. I 

 would like to resume here this line of investigation, interest- 

 ing in so many respects, avoiding the too technical details, for 

 which I can only refer the reader to the works of Drs. Haast, 

 Hochstetter, and others, and especially to those of Professor 

 Bichard Owen, which have since become classic. 



I. 



First of all, let us call to mind the most striking feature of 

 the New Zealand fauna. 



Those travellers who were the first to land on this distant 

 soil( 8 ) were surprised to find, in the way of mammals, only a 

 domestic dog, and a rat which the natives hunted as game. 

 Since then there have been discovered two bats of different 

 genera. ( 4 ) The researches of geologists have traced back to 



(1.) January, 1873. The present article appeared in the same journal 

 (Nos. June and July, 1883). 



(2.) "Address on the Moa," by the Hon. W. B. D. Mantell (" Trans- 

 actions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute," vol. i., p. 18). 

 Mr. Mantell was the only one who occupied himself with the general 

 history of the moas. But it is only right to add that Dr. Haast gave in 

 the same volume an entirely technical paper, in which he made known the 

 results of measurements taken from a great number of moa-bones. 

 (Id., p. SO.) 



(3.) New Zealand was discovered by Tasman the 13th December, 

 1G42. It was forgotten for more than a century, and rediscovered by Cook 

 the Oth October, 1769. 



(4.) Scotophilia tuberculatus, Gray, identical with an Australian 

 species, and the Mystacina tuberculata, which has never been found any- 

 where but in New Zealand. (Note communicated by M. Alphonse 

 Edwards.) 



