Forbes. — On the Disappearance of the Moa. 373 



DESCRIPTION OP PLATE XXXVI. 



Pig. 1. Section of strata in Gleniti quarry. 



Pig. 2. Femur of Apteryx australis. 



Pig. 2a. „ „ showing internal structure. 



Pig. 3. Fragment of pelvis of Dinornis, sp. ? 



Art. XXXVIII. — Note on the Disappearance of the Moa. 



By H. O. Forbes. 



Communicated by the Secretary. 



[Read before the Philosopliical Instikde of Canterbury, Snd October, 



1890.] 



Major Mair, in an interesting paper on the disappearance of 

 the moa in vol. xxii. of the Trans. N.Z. Institute, makes, on 

 page 71, the statement that he is a " supporter of the beHef 

 that the Maoris never had any personal knowledge of the 

 moa." Major Mair so intimately knows the history and 

 literature of the Maoris, and their habits and modes of 

 thought, that one — especially one like myself, who has had 

 time as yet to acquire only a small amount of experience of 

 New Zealand things — can scarcely hope to contribute any 

 suggestion on the subject of the history of the moa which 

 has not occurred to this specialist. 



The following short argument, however, which has weight 

 with myself, may, I hope, be found not too trivial to be con- 

 sidered and refuted, if found wanting, by Major Mair. 



Last year I had the satisfaction of making a very com- 

 plete exploration of a recently-discovered cave on the property 

 of Mr. Monck, near Sumner. A general description of the 

 cave and of the more obvious finds in it has been given in a 

 paper read before the Institute last year by the President." 

 The exploration was conducted under my own direction by 

 two very trustworthy workmen, over whom in my absence 

 Mr. Monck — who evinced the greatest interest in the progress 

 of the work, and who has deposited in the Museum all the 

 worked implements found — very khidly kept a superintending 

 eye. The facts are these : The cave, it is acknowledged, has 

 been closed since before the advent of Europeans to Canter- 

 bury, and how^ long before it is impossible to find out. The 

 .condition of the cave on entry gave all the appearance of 

 having been untouched since the last dwellers in it left it. 

 Its entrance was covered over by a very extensive land- 

 slip, which evidently fell during their absence, as no human 



• Trans., vol. xxii., art. v., p. 64. 



