218 Dr. J. Haast on the Extinct 



ornis and of the New-Zealand Dinornithidae (using this latter 

 term in a general sense) is so enormous that I fail to see how 

 they possibly eould prove that connexion in any way. 



I cannot agree with Professor Alphonse Milne-Edwards, 

 that the JEpyorms stands nearer to Dinornis than to the 

 Ostriches, Casuaries, and Emus, except that the fossil bones 

 of Madagascar and New Zealand have a more pachydermal 

 type than the recent species named. But I may point out 

 that the fossil Dromornis australis, of Australia, shows similar 

 characteristics ; and I am sure, if fossil remains of struthious 

 birds in beds of postpliocene age were discovered in Africa, 

 America, and Asia, that they would exhibit a similar pachy- 

 dermal character. 



Judging from Professor Milne-Edward's own excellent 

 memoirs on jEpy ornis, and the fine casts of the unique fossil 

 bones in the Paris Museum he was good enough to send to 

 to the Canterbury Museum, I am unable to trace their rela- 

 tionship with our Dinornithidae. It appears to me that the 

 Madagascar species are separated from the former by many 

 fundamental differences, such as (to point out only a few) the 

 pneumatic foramen in the femur and the straightness of the 

 trochleae of the metatarsus. 



And although I am convinced that the struthious character 

 of jEpyornis has sufficiently been proved by the eminent Paris 

 comparative anatomist, I can easily understand that there 

 was at first some show of reason for placing it amongst the 

 Sarcorhamphous Vultures, as has been done by Professor 

 Bianconi. 



However, speaking of the principle itself, I wish to point 

 out that, if we were to decide from a few isolated species in two 

 distant countries which show some or even a close resemblance 

 to each other that these countries must have once been con- 

 nected in some way, we should in many instances form erro- 

 neous conclusions. We might as well say that, because there 

 are struthious birds in Australia, the Malay archipelago, 

 Africa, America, and Asia, all these countries must have been 

 connected with New Zealand — or because marsupial remains 

 have been found in Europe, and several species of opossums 



