7 
meters deep. A notch also extends forwards, and divides outwardly 
the symphysial from the ramal part of the dentary : this notch or 
hole does not exist in Dinornis. 
The parts of the bones of the beak referred to Palapteryx consist 
of the anterior end of the premaxillary and of the symphysis and 
part of both rami of the mandible. The premaxillary, by the proxi- 
mity of the external nostrils to its apex, and by the nasal grooves 
continued thither on each side from the anterior boundary of the 
nostrils, resembles that of the large existing Siruthionide, and the 
Emeu more especially by the slenderness of the nasal process of the 
premaxillary and the angle at which it rises from the broad and flat 
maxillary processes. The end of the beak was, however, more obtuse 
than in the Emeu, and the short symphysis of the lower jaw is more 
deeply excavated above : it presents, however, the two parallel lon- 
gitudinal grooves on its under part, as in the Emeu and Ostrich. 
The lower jaw appears from the remains of one ramus to have been 
5 inches or 54 inches in length, and to have been broader and deeper 
than in the Ostrich or Emeu: and the cranium by its greater breadth 
behind, its less depth, its vertical foramen magnum and prominent 
occipital condyle, the lower position of the basisphenoidal platform, 
and the marked angle which it forms with the almost vertical basi- 
occipital, concurs with the beak in establishing the generic distinction 
of the great bird to which it belonged. As the characters which 
were adduced in a former memoir (Zool. Trans. iii. p. 327) to sepa- 
rate those bones of the extremities that by their more slender pro- 
portions approximated the Struthionide and, by the indication of a 
small back-toe, the Apteryr more particularly, from other bones of 
corresponding size but more robust proportions and devoid of a back- 
toe,—led to the former being assigned to the genus Palapteryz, and 
the latter to Dinornis proper ;—so the characters which, in the first 
of the skulls described in the present memoir, show a departure from 
the struthious type, and in the second skull an approach thereto, 
clearly indicate the propriety of assigning the one to the genus 
Dinornis and the other to the genus Palapteryz. The total length of 
the skull referred to Palapteryx geranocides is 6 inches at least ; the 
breadth of the cranium 24 inches: the bird probably equalled the 
Emeu in size. 
The skull which indicates the third genus of apparently extinct 
bird (Notornis) measures 44 inches in length, and the cranium is 
l inch 8 lines in breadth. The bones of the beak closely resemble in 
form and structure those of the Purple Coot (Porphyrio), but the 
occiput is relatively broader, and more inclined forwards as it ascends: 
the plane of the occipital condyle is vertical, and the basioccipital 
extends further below the occipital condyle, though less so than in 
Palapteryz. In these characters the Brachypteryx or Short-winged 
Rail of New Zealand more resembles Notornis. The articular surface 
of the tympanic is divided, as in Dinornis and Otis, into two subcir- 
cular cups. The parietal region is singularly flat, the temporal fossee 
unusually long, well-defined by ridges extending from the paroccipital 
to the postfrontal. In the comparatively small Porphyrio and Bra- 
