158 Transactions. — Zoology. 



therefore quite distinct from it, and must be placed near 

 Anomalopteryx parva. 



We now come to the genus which includes curtus, didinus, 

 casuarinus, and a larger species (Mesopteryx b of Parker), 

 which is probably rheides. It is Syomis and Cela of Eeichen- 

 bach ; Meionomis of Haast ; the typical Anomalopteryx of 

 Lydekker (not of Eeichenbach) ; and Mesopteryx of myself 

 and Dr. Parker. Which of these should be adopted? Beichen- 

 bach's names, I think, cannot stand unless subsequently de- 

 fined by some one else. His only knowledge on the subject 

 was derived from Owen's published papers, and probably he 

 never handled or even saw a moa bone. He gave no charac- 

 ters, but, without assigning any reasons for doing so, he 

 placed in different genera each one of Owen's species, at a 

 time when hardly anything was known about them. Cela 

 (Mohring) is a synonym of Gasuarius, and is not brought for- 

 ward by Eeichenbach as a new genus ; the three species 

 curtus, casuarinus, and crassus being grouped with Gasuarius, 

 while the species of Dinornis are grouped with Dromaius. If 

 I had known this in 1891, when I was writing my paper on 

 the moas of New Zealand, 1 should have ignored Eeichen- 

 bach's names altogether. Mesopteryx also cannot be used 

 here, as it has been previously given by H. de Saussure to a 

 genus of Orthoptera.* To adopt Anomalopteryx for the generic 

 name would now lead to confusion, as it was used by me — 

 nearly simultaneously with Mr. Lydekker — for Eeichenbach's 

 typical species didiformis, and has been so used by Dr. Parker. 

 Also Meionomis (Haast) has precedence of Anomalopteryx 

 (Lydekker), and was fairly well defined. It was only Haast's 

 mistake of identifying didinus as didiformis which led to Mr. 

 Lydekker using the name of Anomalopteryx for this genus. I 

 shall therefore take Meionomis as the correct name, and keep 

 Anomalopteryx for the " Celine group " of Mr. Lydekker, as 

 has been already done by Dr. Parker and myself. 



For the next group — which includes ponderosa, crassus, and 

 gravis — there is Eeichenbach's old name of Emeus, which was 

 only defined by Lydekker in 1891 ; and Haast's name of 

 Euryapteryx, fairly well defined in 1871. Haast certainly 

 mixed up Euryapteryx with his Palapteryx (Pachyornis of 

 Lydekker), and I did the same. It was Mr. Lydekker who 

 first clearly distinguished the two genera : still, I do not think 

 that this is a sufficient reason for passing over Haast's name. 

 Emeus was not given by Eeichenbach as a new genus, but 

 only as an amended spelling of Emeu (Barrere), which is 

 identical with Emou (Vieillot), another synonym of Casuarius. 

 By no canon of nomenclature can a genus Emeus of Eeichen- 



" Melanges Ortbopterologuiques," fasc. iii., Mantidas, p. 188 (1870). 



