ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR A FOSSIL EGG FROM 

 MADAGASCAR 



AN c.u^ that is two t'cct, cijilit iiiclics hm^' and two Icct, two iiidics 

 ai'iiimd and that lias a capacity of alxmt two gallons is a iii'W |)()sscs- 

 >ioii of the Miisciiiii, one hnn(h'ed dollars lia\ inji' heen the ])nrclias(' 

 price. The specimen is a fossil fioni Mada,iia>car and ha> Keen ni tlie 

 British Museiini on loan since JN'.lLl. h is nnusuallx ])ei'fect, the >liell 

 uiihrokcn altli()u<;h finely pitteil in |)laces showiiiff effects upon it Keforc it 

 passed into this niichan^cahle state. 



Fossil ei^fi's of thi> ilescri])tion fii-st came to the notice of scientists in 

 IS.")!) when discoxcred in the \>c(\ of a torrent in Mada^i'ascar. 'I'he natives 

 were fannliar with them, usin^' tlx'm sometimes as \'essels for domestic 

 |)nrposes; and these natixcs had also a tradition of a hird laru'e enonffji to 

 carry oil' an o\. .\t the time of the disco\cry there was much discu.ssion 

 hy scientific men as to whether what came out of these eggs in ancient 

 times was hii-d oi- reptile and aftei' a few hones discovered somewhat later 

 (lecided in fa\oi' of l)ird which was named .l']]jyornis, there was imich 

 (lift'erenee of o])inion as to its kind and relationships. Some placed it with 

 dodos, others with auks, and still others with vultures or large hirds of 

 prey. Some fifteen years later, in ISIIT, \arious less incomplete fossil 

 remains came to light, which decided delinitely that the hird was not only 

 of massive j)roportioiis, hut also that it was shoi-t-wmged. thu^ pi-o\ ing its 

 alliance to the l)inoini> of .\ew Zealand and to the .\|)teiy\, lt> height 

 was supposed to ha\'c been six or sexcn feet altliough picx ions calculations 

 had placed it at twelxc feet. 



There is no fossil s])ecimen of the hird itself in the .\nieiican Mu>eum, 

 hut exhibited in the (Jeological Hidl are some of its nioic oi- It ss distant 

 relatives, the Aptery.x, the Moas - fo.ssil New Zealand liir<ls which wci-e 

 nearl\ wingless — and the gigantic Dinornis, standing nine feet high. The 

 egg will he placed on exhibition soon ami when >een in comparison with the 

 eggs of birds of ordinary size or excn with that of the ostrich will make 

 clear that knowledge of these eggs in prehistoiic times may well ha\c given 

 rise in oriental fable to the sto|-ies of a giant "roc able to carry olf an ele- 

 phant in its talons." 



Mk. \V. 1)i.\\'. Mii.i.ki{, .\ssistant in the Department of Mammalogy 

 and ( )rnithology, ha> been honored b> an appointment as inspector of 

 im])orte<l li\c birds at the Port of .\ew ^ oi'k undei' the direction of the 

 ( hief of the I'nited States liiological Sur\i'y. 

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