237 



undoubtedly contain their full share of animal matter, and even 

 more than is contained in the bones of the Ostrich, or from 

 twenty-six to thirty-eight per cent. These bones have always 

 been found in the beds or in the banks of freshwater rivers, 

 buried in the mud or sand, and never on the solid dry land. In 

 fact, every thing connected with the history of these birds, and 

 the appearance of the bones, indicates that the race existed at no 

 very distant period, and there are strong grounds for hoping 

 that a few members are yet living in the more remote and unex- 

 plored parts of New Zealand. The density of the bones shows 

 that they were birds of a terrestrial character ; the wings being 

 in a very rudimentary condition, and the lower extremities de- 

 veloped to a great degree : the relative lengths of the bones, 

 compared with those of the Ostrich, show a greater sluggish- 

 ness, but greater powers of scratching. 



The thigh-hone is fourteen inches long, and six and five 

 eighths inches in circumference in the middle, the corresponding 

 measurements of the Ostrich being eleven and five inches. 

 According to Owen, there is in Dinornis, and the allied genera, 

 no opening in this bone for the admission of air ; they forming, 

 with the genus Apteryx, the only known exceptions to the rule that 

 the thigh bone in terrestrial birds is filled with air ; in Dinornis 

 the medullary contents are retained in the bones of the extremi- 

 ties through life. The generic characters of this bone, besides 

 the absence of air-holes and an air canal, are the great thickness 

 of the bony wall of the medullary cavity of the shaft, the tube- 

 rosities on its posterior portion, the great size of the lower extre- 

 mity, and the breadth of the cavity in which play the muscles 

 which extend the leg. 



The tibia, the only bone of the leg preserved, has its upper 

 extremity wanting for about four inches, judging from the marks 

 on the rest of the bone. The length of this mutilated bone is 

 twenty-nine inches, the whole length would be about thirty-four 

 inches; its circumference is six and three eighths inches, so 

 that, long as it is, it is proportionally stouter than in the Ostrich. 



The metatarsus bears the usual marks of formation from three 

 originally distinct bones, united into a single one ; these three 

 bones are indicated by the persistent grooves extending the whole 

 length of the bone. The upper portion of this bone is wanting 



