BuLLEK. — On the Ormtliology of New Zealand. 181 



forms of bird-life " iu the sense implied." In the sense now- 

 used by Mr. Wallace, I admit, of course, that the Kiwi as a 

 Eatite form comes at the end of the chain in our modern 

 system of classification ; but, as I understand it, that is a very 

 different point to the one I was discussing. In accordance 

 with that system, and having regard to their natural affinities, 

 I have placed the group of Kiwis at the very end of my " Birds 

 of New Zealand," but that is in no way inconsistent with my 

 argument as to Apteryx being a highly specialised form. 

 Writing of this bird, the late Professor Owen said : " Here we 

 have a true bird, exhibiting a remarkable modification of the 

 whole ornithic structure, in reference to exclusively terrestrial 

 life and nocturnal habits ; and we learn, from this adherence 

 to a typical organization, in a very rare exception, that the 

 teleological conclusions respecting the typical construction, 

 as it is manifested in the general rule, are in no way affected 

 by such an exception, because the modification of one part 

 necessarily affects that of many others, perhaps of the whole 

 body. If, for example, the fixation and structure of the lungs 

 require a broad sternum and concomitant modifications of the 

 coracoid and scapula for the mechanical part of the respira- 

 tory process, then it may be more convenient for the levator of 

 the humerus to rise below that bone from the sternum, and 

 act in the due direction by a modification of its course, 

 although the locomotion of the bird may in no way be facili- 

 tated by the aggregation of muscular substance beneath the 

 centre of gravity, nor the size of the levator be such as to 

 render its particular position a matter of any consequence in 

 regard to that centre." 



Professor Newton, in his admirable article on " Birds " in 

 the " Encyclopaedia Britanuica," referring to the extraordinary 

 development of our Ratitae, says : "If we take the birds alone, 

 and compare the two subclasses into which the existing or 

 recent members of the class are divided, we find the Aus- 

 tralian region remarkable for its ornithic singularity. The 

 smaller of these two subclasses, the Ratitae, contains six very 

 natural groups— which might well be called orders — including, 

 according to the most exaggerated computation of their 

 number, less than forty species, while the large subclass, the 

 Carinatse, comprehends some ten thousand species." In a 

 footnote he adds: "If it be true, as seems to be most likely 

 the case, that Dinornis and its allies were absolutely devoid 

 of wings, we should in them have a divergence from the 

 normal ornithic type which is altogether unique in the whole 

 class, and for its singularity might v^^ell be set off against the 

 multifariousness exhibited by the Didelphia" — one of the sub- 

 classes of mammals characteristic of the Australian region. 



Mr. Wallace's criticism proceeds : " Again, the statement 



