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XIII. On Dinornis (Part II.), containing Descriptions of portions of the Skull, the Sternum 

 and other parts of the Skeleton of the species previously determined, with osteological 

 evidences of three additional Species, and of a new Genus, Palapteryx. By 

 Professor Owen, F.R.S., Z.8. 8fc. Sfc. 



Read June 23, 1846. 



IHE publication of the Memoirs on Dinornis, communicated to the Society in 1839 

 and 1843, has been followed by the collection in New Zealand, and the transmission 

 to this country of many additional and highly interesting parts of the skeleton ; some 

 referable to the species of Dinornis therein defined, some to species of which no remains 

 have hitherto been described, and others indicative of a new genus of gigantic wingless 

 Birds. 



The specimens in question have been discovered not only in the ' North Island ' of 

 New Zealand, from which those previously described were exclusively obtained, but 

 also from the ' Middle Island,' or as it is sometimes termed, the ' South Island' ; and 

 all the bones from this locality are less altered, and appear to be much more recent than 

 those from the North Island. The friendly correspondents through whose kindness I 

 am indebted for the rich additional materials which form the subject of the present 

 memoir, or for information respecting the Dinornis, are Captain Sir Everard Home, Bart., 

 R.N. ; the Hon. Wm. Martin, Chief Justice of New Zealand ; Sir Wm. Hooker, F.R.S. ; 

 the Ven. Archdeacon Williams, Corr. Z.S. ; "William Swainson, Esq., F.R.S. , F.L.S., 

 the distinguished naturahst ; Colonel William Wakefield ; J. R. Gowen, Esq., a Director 

 of the New Zealand Company ; Rev. William Cotton, M. A. ; Rev. Richard Taylor, M.A. ; 

 the Rev. William Colenso*, M.A. ; Dr. Mackellar ; and Percy Earl, Esq. 



I propose first to describe the bones, the homologues of which have not before been 

 described, and which extend our knowledge of the generic characters of the skeleton of 

 the Dinornis, and afterwards those which characterise additional species. 



Amongst the specimens of parts of the skeleton not before obtained, are two mutilated 

 crania, defective unfortunately in the mandibles, and showing little more than the walls 

 of the cranial cavity ; but, nevertheless, highly interesting and instructive. The larger 

 specimen (Plate XXXVIII. figg. 1 — 4) was obtained by the Ven. W. WiUiams from the V^ ^ C 



bed of a mountain-stream descending to the coast at Poverty Bay, North Island, and is 



* This gentleman has published a very instructive and interesting memoir on the iMoa (Dinornis) in the 

 Tasmanian Journal, No. VII. 1843, to which the editor has appended an abstract of my memoir in ' Zool. Trans." 

 vol. iii. p. 32. Mr. Colenso's memoir is reprinted in the ' Annals of Natural History,' August 1844. 



