Hill. — The Moo — Legendary, Historical, and Geological. 337 



Apteryx should be immersed in a strong colourless spirit, the skull having been care- 

 fully cut open and partly removed with a penknife to allow the spirit to get to the brain. 

 An opening should be cut into the belly, and the spirit poured in there and down the 

 throat. If after some weeks' immersion the spirit were changed the bird would with- 

 out doubt arrive in such a state as would allow me to complete my monograph. 



For the honour of our country the scientific account of the rarities of our remote 

 colonies should emanate from England. We have too often been indebted to foreigners 

 for such information. . . 



As soon as T have published the memoir I am now preparing on the Dinornis 

 I shall forward it to the Rev. Wm. Williams and yourself, and meanwhile remain, — 

 Yours, &c, Richard Owen. 



This letter, written on the 23rd October, 1843, is initialled by Colenso 

 as having been received on the 17th January, 1846, or two years three 

 months afterwards, and was answered on the 20th January, three days 

 after its receipt. The delay may have arisen owing to the trouble with 

 Hone Heke in the Bay of Islands, and to the circumstance that Colenso 

 removed to Hawke's Bay about this time. 



The two letters here quoted show — 'First, that Colenso's paper on the 

 moa was written immediately following his return from his second journey 

 along the East Coast in April, 1842, and acknowledged by the editor of 

 the " Tasmanian Journal" in August; second, that Owen's second paper 

 appeared in January, 1843 ; third, that between the appearance of Owen's 

 second paper and his letter to Colenso of the 23rd October, 1843, Professor 

 Owen had received from Buckland the collection of bones forwarded by 

 the Rev. William Williams ; fourth, that at the time of writing to Colenso 

 Professor Owen was occupied upon a third paper on the Dinornis, a copy 

 of which he promised to send to Colenso when sending one to the Rev. 

 William Williams, who was most interested ; fifth, that Colenso could not 

 have obtained any facts connected with Owen's first paper at the time of 

 writing his own paper ; sixth, that Colenso's paper was republished by 

 Owen in the " Zoological Magazine " (vol. 19, p. 81). 



Reference has already been made to Dieffenbach and the Rev. Richard 

 Taylor, as quoted by Colenso. It is necessary, however, to quote what 

 each one says in order to avoid even the appearance of bias. Dieffenbach, 

 in vol. 2 of his bbok on "New Zealand," page 195, says, "To this order 

 probably belongs a bird, now extinct, called Moa (or Movie) by the Natives. 

 The evidences are, a bone very little fossilized, which was brought from New 

 Zealand by Mr. Rule to Mr. Gray, and by him sent to Professor Richard 

 Owen (Proc. Zool. Soc, 1839, p. 169). I possess drawings of similar bones, 

 and of what may possibly be a claw, which are in the collection of the Rev. 

 Richard Taylor, in Waimate. They are found on the east coast of the 

 Northern Island of New Zealand, and are brought down by rivulets from a 

 neighbouring mountain called Hikorangi." In the year 1855 the Rev. R. 

 Taylor published a book bearing the title " New Zealand and its Inhabit- 

 ants." The following reference to the moa is taken from page 396 : " But 

 of all the birds that have once existed in New Zealand, by far the most 

 remarkable is the moa (Dinornis of Owen). Perhaps it was the largest bird 

 which ever had existence, at least during the more recent period of the 

 earth's history ; and it is by no means certain that it is even now extinct ! 

 I first discovered its remains in 1839, at Tauranga [Turanga], and now 

 Waiapu." 



Now, Colenso, so it is stated, lived next door to Dieffenbach ; but the 

 latter makes no mention of Colenso, and it is doubtful whether Colenso had 

 any bones of the moa at the time of Dieffenbach's stay, for he had not 



