164 DISTRIBUTION OF EXTINCT ANIMALS. [PART Il, 
Paleotringa, allied to the sandpipers, and Telmatobius to the 
rails, both Cretaceous; with Graculavus, allied to Graculus ; 
Laornis allied to the swans; Hesperornis a gigantic diver; and 
Iethyornis a very low form, with biconcave vertebra, such as are 
only found in fishes and some reptiles—also from Cretaceous 
deposits. 
South America—tThe caverns of Brazil produced thirty-four 
species of birds, most of them referable to Brazilian genera, and 
many to still existing species. The most interesting were two 
species of American ostrich (Rhea), one larger than either of 
the living species; a large turkey-buzzard (Cathartes); a new 
species of the very isolated South American genus Opisthocomus ; 
and a Cariama, or allied new genus. 
Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands.—We have here only 
evidence of birds that have become extinct in the historical 
period or very little earlier. First we have a group of birds in- 
capable of flight, allied to pigeons, but forming a separate family, 
Didide ; and which, so far as we yet know, inhabited Mauritius, 
Rodriguez, and probably Bourbon. <Aphanapteryx, an extinct 
genus of rails, inhabited Mauritius; and another genus, (Zrythro- 
machus), Rodriguez. A large parrot, said by Prof. Milne Edwards 
to be allied to Ava and Microglossus, also inhabited Mauritius ; 
and another allied to Eclectus, the island of Rodriguez. None 
of these have been found in Madagascar; but a gigantic Struthious 
bird, “pyornis, forming a peculiar family distinct both from 
the ostriches of Africa and the Dinornis of New Zealand 
inhabited that island; and there is reason to believe that 
this may have lived less than 200 years ago. 
New Zealand—A number of extinct Struthious birds, form- 
ing two families, Dinornithide and Palapterygide, have been 
found in New Zealand. Some were of gigantic size. They seem 
allied both to the living Apteryx of New Zealand and the emu 
of Australia. They are quite recent, and some of them have 
probably lived within the last few centuries. Remains of 
Dinornis have also been found in a Post-Pliocene deposit in 
Queensland, N. E. Australia '—a very important discovery, as it 
1 Trans. Zool. Soc. of London, vol. viii. p. 381. 
