214 Dr. J. Haast on the Extinct 



different form from those articulating with the five species of 

 Dinornis ; and as we have obtained a number of the most mi- 

 nute bones of the smallest species, it would be difficult to con- 

 ceive that a bone of such considerable size should altogether 

 have escaped, the more so as so many specimens of Pala- 

 pterijx were excavated. And, although this is only negative 

 evidence, it is so strong that there is not the least doubt in 

 my mind of the non-existence of a bony scapulo-coracoid. 

 The same might indeed have existed in a cartilaginous form, 

 attached to the sternum by cartilage ; but of this we have no 

 evidence. I am well aware that on physiological grounds the 

 presence of that bone seems to be indispensable for the me- 

 chanism of respiration in birds, as Professor Owen has shown 

 from his dissection of Apteryx, and he has lately again called 

 my attention to the fact (letter to me, dated British Museum, 

 Aug. 5, 1873) ; but, with the data at present before us, I can- 

 not alter my views, the more so as I do not deny that such a 

 process might have existed as cartilage. 



It will be seen from the subdivisions given above that I 

 have not used the term Dinornis giganteus, as there seems to 

 be a specific difference between the species of that name from 

 the Northern island, to which that term was first given by 

 Professor Owen, and the largest bird of this island. In this 

 I have followed Professor Owen, who has proposed the specific 

 term of Dinornis maximus for the latter, which appears to 

 have been altogether of more gigantic proportions than the 

 Northern-island bird. I was once under the impression that 

 a specific difference could be traced between the largest ske- 

 letons known, for which the above term, maximus, was first 

 used by Professor Owen, and the somewhat smaller skeletons 

 for which for some time the designation giganteus was re- 

 tained by me ; but after a careful examination of a number 

 of skeletons, there remains not the least doubt in my mind 

 that they belong all to the same species, with a gradual de- 

 crease of size and robustness. 



And even assuming that the largest skeletons belonged to 

 the female birds, a similar considerable difference in size being 

 also constant with the different species of Apteryx, there are 



