HuTTON. — On the Moa-hones from Enfield. 645 



Art. LXVI. — On the Moa-hones from Enfield. 



By Captain F. W. Hutton, F.E.S., CuratoL- of the Canter- 

 bury Museum, Christchurch. 



■ 'Bead before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury., 7th August, 



1895.] 



The mode of occurrence of the bones found in August, 1891, 

 at Enfield, near Oamaru, has ah-eady been described by Dr. 

 H. O. Forbes in Nature for March, 1892. They were im- 

 bedded in peat in a small swampy gully which runs across 

 a field to join a stream which falls into the Waireka Eiver. 

 In the winter of 1891 Mr. Meek, the owner, determined to 

 bring this swampy gully into cultivation, and the bones were 

 found when ploughing it. 



In addition to the moas, bones of several carinate birds 

 were found, mention of which is made by Dr. Forbes in the 

 paper already referred to, and also in the Trans. N.Z. Inst., 

 vol. xxiv., p. 188, &c. These remains were taken to England 

 by Dr. Forbes, and I am not aware of any description having 

 been published of them. 



In June, 1892, I made a preliminary examination of the 

 moa-bones remaining in the Museum, as I had, at once, to 

 make up some exchanges promised by my predecessor, and I 

 read a paper to the Institute giving the results of that 

 examination, at the same time saying that it was far from 

 completed.''' Since then I have had time to measure and 

 compare all the bones in the collection, and I wish to place on 

 record the results of my measurements, so that they can be 

 compared with those of the bones at Kapua. It will be seen 

 that there are many points of difference between the bones of 

 the two localities ; and this might have been expected. If the 

 different species of moas have been gradually developed, their 

 sizes must have differed at different periods ; and, as there are 

 geological reasons for thinking that the Enfield bones are of a 

 later date than those from Kapua, it follows that the differ- 

 ences probably show the directions in which the species de- 

 veloped during the interval. 



After rejecting bones of young birds and others which were 

 too imperfect for measurement, I had 1,031 leg-bones left, 

 made up as follows : — 



* " New Species of Jloas " : Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxv., p. 6. 



