of Dodos' l^emains in Mavritius. 143 



the work went on, I resolved on sending some men into the 

 centre of the marsh, where the water was about three feet deep; 

 and there, by feeling in the mud with their naked feet, they 

 met with one entire tibia, a portion of another, and a tarso- 

 metatarsus. I informed Mr. de Bissy of my success, at which 

 he was greatly delighted ; and he kindly gave me the exclusive 

 right to every bone that might be found there, refusing to some 

 applicants permission to search there, saying that, as the disco- 

 very was entirely mine, he considered that I had a prescriptive 

 right to all the bones. 



The Dodo-bones were imbedded only in the mud at the bot- 

 tom of the water in the deepest parts of the marsh : not one 

 was found among the Tortoise- bones on the margin, except 

 perhaps the fragment of the tibia just mentioned. Encouraged 

 by success, I employed several hands to search in the manner 

 described ; but I met with but few specimens of Dodo-bones till 

 I thought of cutting away a mass of floating herbage nearly two 

 feet in thickness, which covered the deepest part of the marsh. 

 In the mud under this, I was rewarded by finding the bones of 

 many Dodos. There was a much larger proportion of tarso- 

 metatarsi than of any other bones ; next in quantity were the 

 tibiae and the pelves, after which came the femora. Sterna were 

 fewer in number, but more numerous than humeri and cora- 

 coids ; scapulae also were more plentiful than the latter. Ver- 

 tebrae were found in considerable abundance ; but it was evident 

 that many of them belonged to different individuals, rendering 

 it difficult to complete a set. Crania were very rare, which I 

 attribute to their having been disintegrated by the roots of 

 plants which insinuated themselves into the openings of the 

 head. Lower mandibles of the beak were found in considerable 

 numbers ; but most of them had but one ramus, and in none was 

 the posterior portion with the condyle found in situ, though I 

 met with many of these in a detached state. Upper mandibles 

 were extremely rare, having doubtless been destroyed by the 

 same agency as the crania. 



I only found one coracoid with the furcula and scapula (which 

 three bones in the Dodo were auchylosed together) entire, 

 but I met with several to which the latter was attached. Ulnae 



