386 Transactions. 



of the "Tasrnanian Journal of Science" early in the year 1842, and was 

 acknowledged on the 6th August, as follows : — 



My Dear Sir,— Hobart, V.D.L., 6th August, 1842. 



I believe Mr. Henslow acknowledged your two papers upon the ferns of New 

 Zealand and upon the fossil bones (which are indeed a very remarkable discovery). They 

 were laid before the society at the last meeting (3rd August), and the next number, 

 now in the course of printing, will contain your paper on ferns ; the other we reserve 

 for the succeeding number. We are not restricted to lithograph} 7 by the expense, but 

 the difficulty of getting the things done properly. However, I hope your illustrations 

 will be to your satisfaction, as they are already in the workmen's hands. I enclose a 

 copy of No. 4, and will not forget to send four copies of No. 5 when published. Com- 

 munications may be addressed to me under cover of Sir J. Franklin, as I have under- 

 taken the duties of secretary of the society. — Believe me, &c, 



To William Colenso, Esq. I. P. Gell. 



The original of this letter is in my possession. Here it is clearly shown 

 that Colenso sent his papers on "fossil bones" to the Tasrnanian Society 

 in Hobart soon after his return from what was at the time a very remark- 

 able and successful journey by way of the East Coast, thence inland to 

 Waikaremoana, through the Urewera Country to Rotomahana and Rotorua, 

 and onward north to the Bay of Islands. 



Colenso's paper on the moa appeared in the " Tasrnanian Journal of 

 Science" in 1843, and Professor Owen republished it in the "Zoological 

 Magazine" (vol. 19, p. 81) the following year. This fact of republication 

 by Professor Owen suffices to show that the paper was one of scientific 

 value. Between the time of Colenso's writing his paper on the moa for the 

 " Tasrnanian Journal of Science " and Owen's republication of it a letter 

 had been written by Owen himself to Mr. Colenso on the recommendation 

 of Sir Joseph Hooker, and from this it is possible to correlate all the facts 

 connected with the receipt of moa-bones in England up to the time of the 

 professor's writing : — 



Royal College of Surgeons, 

 Sir, — Lincoln's Inn Fields 23rd October, 1843. 



I am encouraged by Sir William Hooker to hope that you may interest yourself 

 in transmitting me information and specimens relative to a point in natural history which 

 I have been for some years endeavouring to elucidate — viz., the nature and affinities 

 of the gigantic bird which appears to have become extinct, like the Dodo of Mauritius, 

 within the historical period in the North Island of New Zealand. The Proceedings of 

 the Zoological Society for January, 1843, which I take the liberty to transmit, will put 

 you in possession of the amount of information which I had obtained on the subject of 

 the Dinornis of that period. 



I have subsequently obtained, by comparison of the specimens transmitted to Dr. 

 Buckland by the Rev. Wm. Williams, good evidence of not less than four species of 

 Dinornis, the bones of which have been obtained from the beds of streams descending 

 from the mountains into Poverty Bay. These species are at present indicated by bones 

 of the leg. No part of the head has vet reached England [note 23rd October, 18431, 

 nor anv trace of wings or rib-bones. The latter I conjecture to have been dispropor- 

 tionately small, as in the Apteryx. Every additional bone of the Dinornis would be of 

 great value and utility in recomposing the different species. I have, for example, now 

 got the femur and metatarsus of one species, without the tibia, or longest bone of the 

 leg ; in another species I have the tibia, but not the femur, or thigh-bone. 



You will see that Mr. Cotton refers to a report which Mr. Williams had heard 

 relative to the existence of the great species at the present time in the Middle Island. 

 I should be glad to have any further information on that point which may have reached 

 you. 



With the notice of the Dinornis T send also an abstract ot my anatomical descrip- 

 tion of the kiwi, or Apteryx, of New Zealand. The probability that the fate of this genus 

 mav soon be that of the Dinornis has induced me to spare no pains to secure a record 

 of its organization. Hitherto the specimens (two) I have received have not reached 

 me in a state fit for the dissection of the nerves. For this purpose a recently killed 



