46 



June 23, 1846. 

 Harpur Gamble, Esq., M. D., in tbe Chair. 



Professor Owen read a Memoir (Part II.) on the Dinomis, descrip- 

 tive of parts of the skeleton transmitted from New Zealand since the 

 reading of Part I. (Proc. Zool. Soc, November 1843.) 



The bones referable to species defined in that communication 

 were first described. Among these were the cranial portion of the 

 skull of Dinomis struthoides and a corresponding portion of the skull 

 of Dinomis dromioides, ■\vhich in general form more resembled that 

 part of the skull of the Dodo than of any existing bird ; bu t they are 

 remarkable for the gi-eat breadth of a low occipital region, ■vvhicli 

 slopes from below upwards and forwards ; the almost fiat parietal 

 region is eontinued directly for\vards into the broad sloping frontai 

 region ; the temporal fossae are remarkably wide and deep ; the orbits 

 small ; the olfactory chamber expanded posteriorly, but not to so 

 great an extent as in the Apteryx ; the plane of the foramen mag- 

 num is vertical. Many other characteristies in the cranial organi- 

 zation of the genus Dinomis Avere described, and the specific distinc- 

 tion of the t\vo mutilated crania pointed out. 



The tympanic Ijone of the Dinomis gicjanteris -vvas described in 

 detail and compared \vith the šame bone in existing birds. 



Different cervical and dorsal vertebrre, referable to the species 

 Din. giganteus, ingens, struthoides and crnssvs, were described. These 

 vcrtebrEe were remarkably entire, and with some of the best-prcservcd 

 bones of the extremities, described in a subseąuent part of the Me- 

 moir, had been obtained from a turbary formation on the coast of the 

 Middle Island, near Waika\vaite. 



One of the most interesting of the novel acąuisitions from this 

 locality was an almost entire sternum, referred by Prof. 0\ven to the 

 Din. giganteus. It is a subąuadrate, keel-less, shield-shaped bone, 

 broader than long, Avith the posterior angles and the xiphoid process 

 prolonged, as in the Apteryx, but without the antcrior emargination. 

 The coracoid depressions very small. This bone was minutei)' de- 

 scribed and compared Avith the keel-less sternums of the existing 

 Struthious birds ; that of the Apteryx being demonstrated to be most 

 likę the sternum of Dinomis. 



The foUovving bones of the extremities, imperfectly or not at all 

 known in 1843, •vvere next described : — 



The entire femur of Dinomis giganteus. Entire tibise and tarso- 

 metatarsi of Din. giganteus, indicating a robust variety of this stupen- 

 dous bird to have existed in the Middle Island. 



The tarso-metatarsus of Dinomis ingens from the North Island, 

 distinguished by a rough depression indicative of a fourth or back- 

 toe, and conseąuently a genus (Palaptery^t) distinct from Dinomis. 



