226 NATURAL SCIENCE. October. 



descent from a common ancestor in the northern hemisphere, is a 

 question on which widely divergent views are held. 



In Novitates Zoologies; for March, in a paper on Diaphorapteryx 

 Hawkinsi, the extinct flightless rail of the Chatham Islands, Andrews 

 has touched upon the question of a southern land connection between 

 the New Zealand and Mascarene areas. It will be remembered that 

 Forbes attached great importance to the occurrence of Aphanapteryx- 

 like rails in these two widely separated regions, but it appears that 

 this phenomenon may be accounted for by supposing that they have 

 originated independently in the two groups of islands from rails 

 which gradually lost their power of flight as a direct result of their 

 insular habitat ; or in other words these flightless rails " are of no 

 value in determining former geographical conditions, since they are 

 themselves the outcome of the present one." 



In a recent paper [Annates des Sciences N atnyelles (Zoologie), ser. 

 viii., tom. ii., 1896, p. 117) on the extinct birds of the Chatham 

 Islands, Milne Edwards arrives at different conclusions, and is 

 strongly in favour of a southern land-connection, adducing in support 

 of his opinion the similarity between the Ratitae of the several regions. 

 He, however, asserts that these Ratitae have probably originated from 

 flightless rails of a type represented in recent times by Ocydromus, 

 Aphanapteryx, Diaphorapteryx, etc. But if this is the case, there seems 

 to be no reason why these ratite birds, like the flightless rails, may 

 not have arisen quite independently in the several regions, their 

 similarity likewise merely resulting from the possession of similar 

 ancestors and from parallelism of development. 



A photographic figure of a nearly complete articulated skeleton 

 of Diaphorapteryx Hawkinsi was published in the Geological Magazine for 

 August, 1896, and though too small to be of any value in matters of 

 detail, it gives a very fair idea of the general proportions and 

 appearance of this remarkable rail. A restoration of a huge skull 

 of another species of this genus, by Mr. W. Barlow, was exhibited at 

 the meeting of the British Association. 



A Reconstructed Moa Skeleton. 



The Annual Report on the Museum of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons of England contains a rather strange flourish about a 

 " magnificent specimen of the gigantic extinct bird the Moa [Dinornis 

 maxintus), from the South Island, New Zealand," recently purchased 

 through the kind services of " Mr. Hutton, of Canterbury, N.Z." 

 " The bones did not," says the Report rather disappointingly, 

 " belong to one bird, but they have all been carefully matched as 

 regards size, and the few not present have been supplied by accurate 

 casts made from real bones. This skeleton," continues the Report, 

 resuming its triumphant tone, " is especially interesting as possessing 



