DixoRxixniDiE. 255 



stouter and relatively shorter than in Mecjalapteryx. The length of 

 the tarso-metatarsus is less than half that of the tibio-tarsus. The 

 femur, besides being usuallj- relatively shorter, is readily distin- 

 gui.shed from that of Dinornis by its more expanded extremities, 

 the rather longer neck, and the much larger and ill-defined popliteal 

 de])ression. 



The vertebras are of the general type of those of PacJnjornis 

 (infra) ; but the anterior pneumatic foramen (at least in some cases) 

 commences in the third dorsal. The phalangeals are intermediate 

 between those of Dinornis and Pachyomis. 



It is considered by Haast that the coracoid was aborted in this 

 and the two following genera. 



As additional characters of the skull, it may be mentioned that 

 in the tyi^ical forms there is a prominent supraoccipital protuberance, 

 and a depression on the squamosal above the quadrate ; the par- 

 occipital processes are pointed, and the basioccipital processes but 

 slightly prominent, so that the posterior profile of the basioccipital 

 is nearly straight. The quadrate has a very short anterior process. 



None of the species are large, and the genus includes the smallest 

 representatives of the family. 



There is great difficulty at arriving at any satisfactory conclusion 

 as to the number of species — a difficulty intensified by several 

 of the so-called species having been established on the evidence of 

 specimens which are not mutually comparable. It is, however, 

 quite clear that A. didiformis and the form represented by the skull 

 originally described as FaJapterijx geranoides are both distinct from 

 A. parva, as is proved by cranial characters. It is equally certain, 

 from the same evidence, that A. didiformis differs from A. didina. 

 Then, again, the large size of the hallux dLstinguishes A. didina 

 from both A. didiformis and A. parva ; while A. (?) geranoides is 

 distinguished from all the other forms by the inflection of the distal 

 end of the tibio-tarsus. 



Anomalopteryx (?), sp. a. 



The femur, Xo. 32269, is so much more slender and has the 

 shaft so much more curved than in typical species of Anomalopteryx, 

 that there are, at first sight, strong grounds for regarding it as 

 representing an undescribed form ; but, on the other hand, there are 

 indications of a transition through other specimens mentioned below 

 to typical femora of Anomalopteryx. In the strong curvature and 

 slenderness of the shaft, Xo. 322H9 approximates to Megahiplenix 

 and Apteryx. but the intonnuscular ridge i« more developed than in 



