Bullek. — Illustrations of Darwinism. 87 



structure constitute important generic distinctions, very long 

 periods of time must have elapsed after the continental sub- 

 mergence before the final elevation of the land which made it 

 possible for these wingless birds to commingle as they evidently 

 did in later times. On the assumption that the North and 

 South Islands were never reunited after the great submergence, 

 these two areas having been independently formed by the 

 fusion of different sets of islands, north and south, when the 

 elevation took place, this theory will account for the singular 

 fact that the Dinornis remains found in the North Island 

 represent different species of birds from those of which remains 

 have been so abundantly discovered in the South. 



Professor Hutton is of opinion that the smaller forms of 

 Eatitae in New Zealand must have preceded the larger ; and 

 the fact that bones of only the smaller species of Dinornis and 

 Syornis have as yet been found in both Islands seems to 

 favour that view. But the evidence on this point is, I think, 

 far from being exhausted, for fresh discoveries of Moa-bones 

 are still being made from time to time, and in the most un- 

 likely localities. On the other hand, whatever date may be 

 assigned for the extinction of the Moa (and upon this question 

 there is much difference of opinion), there seems little doubt 

 that the colossal forms, such as Dinornis maximus, D. alius, 

 D. validus, and D. excelsus, were the first to become extinct, 

 because none of their remains have ever yet been found in the 

 ancient kitchen-middens, mixed up with the rejectamenta of 

 human feasts, or bearing evidence by chipping or gnawing of 

 manipulation by man in a recent state ; besides which they 

 have sometimes been found in a highly fossilized or mineral- 

 ized condition, unlike the bones of the smaller species, which 

 contain much organic matter and often look perfectly fresh. 

 I am of opinion that the larger forms are the more ancient, 

 and are those that roamed originally over the afterwards sub- 

 merged continent, and that the smaller-sized Moas, of differ- 

 ent genera and species, are the descendants of those which 

 had been specialized in the various islands during the long 

 epoch following the continental submergence. Professor 

 Hutton, accepting the outcome of Professor Parker's import- 

 ant researches into the embryology of this form, admits that 

 in the Kiwi the hind limbs undergo a relative diminution in 

 size between the time of hatching and the attainment of fully 

 adult proportions, especially in the case of the female ; and he 

 adds, " This implies that the ancestral Kiwis were, like Megal- 

 ajJtcryx, larger than the living birds ; and w r e may infer the 

 same thing from the great size of the egg. It is a legacy from 

 a larger bird which is not easy to get rid of. The greater 

 proportionate size of the female is probably due to its having 

 to lay such a very large egg. The males have decreased in 



