HuTTON. — On Moa-bones at Kapua. 



627 



radorite, though they are by no means so high as those of the 

 feldspar in the other rocks. The only other porphyritic mineral 

 observed was augite, but the crystals were very small. The 

 ground-mass is semicrystalline, and full of dark grains, pro- 

 bably of magnetite. The general appearance of this rock and 

 its specific gravity render it probable that it is an augite- 

 -andesite. 



Abt. LXV. — On a Deposit of Moa-bones at Kapua. 



By Captain F. W. Hutton, F.E.S., Curator of the Canterbury 



Museum. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 7th August, 1895.\ 



Plate XXXVI. 



In September, 1895, a paragraph appeared in a local news- 

 paper stating that some moa-bones had been found in South 

 Canterbury. I therefore visited the place, which was at the 

 Kapua Settlement, near the head of Waimate Gorge. The 

 bones had been found when sinking a well, and, after having 

 satisfied myself by probing that there were a large number of 

 them, I secured for the Canterbury Museum the right of digging 

 them out. Being obliged to return to Christchurch, owing to 

 the University session not being over, I sent Mr. W. Sparkes, 

 taxidermist, to superintend the excavations, which he did in a 

 most satisfactory manner, the result being the largest and 

 most varied collection of moa-bones ever obtained from one 

 place. The remains of carinate birds were few, and none of 

 them belonged to still-living species. 



A large number of badly-preserved and young bones were 

 left on the ground, and of those which arrived at the Museum 

 many were rejected as not sufiiciently perfect to admit of 

 measurement. After this was done there remained the follow- 

 ing :— 



