324 PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE GENUS DINORNIS. 



longer, not only than in Din. didiformis, but also than in any other known species of 

 Dinornis, not excepting the Din. ingens, to the tarso-metatarsal bone of which the present 

 tarso-metatarsal from the North Island bears the nearest resemblance in general form 

 and proportions, and in the important character of the rough oval surface {ib. d) indi- 

 cative of the attachment of a back-toe, one-fourth from the distal end. Little needs to 

 be added to the ' Comparative Table of Admeasurements,' and to the figures in Plate 

 XLVIII., for the exposition of the specific characters of this bone. In the form of the 

 concavity at the middle of the fore-part of the upper half of the shaft it resembles the 

 tarso-metatarsus of the Din. struthoides more than that of the Din. casuarinus, in which, 

 as in Din. crassus, the same surface below the rough and perforated depression is flat 

 or slightly convex. 



The tarso-metatarsal bone of the Din. casuarinus (PL XLVIII. fig. 3) is remarkable, 

 not only for its great breadth, in proportion to its length, but also, like the femur, for 

 the expansion of the distal end, and especially the production of the inner trochlear 

 division. 



I was much gratified, on inspecting Mr. Percy Earl's large collection of remains of 

 Dinornis from Waikawaite, to find with how little difliculty the bones could be selected 

 which belonged to the species which had been named : — 



Dinornis giganteus, 



ingens, 



struthoides, 



dromioides. 



Of the second of these species, of which I had before seen only the femur and tibia 

 from the North Island, Mr. Earl's collection contained the tarso-metatarsal bones, 

 besides very perfect specimens of femora and tibiae. 



Thus it appears that four species of Dinornis, including the three most remarkable 

 for their gigantic stature, were common to both the North and South Islaiads. 



Mr. Earl's collection did not contain any specimen of Dinornis didiformis or of Din. 

 ofidiformis ; but after selecting those bones which agreed with the previously determined 

 species, there remained a considerable number of most perfect specimens of femora, 

 tibise and tarso-metatarsal bones of unquestionably full-grown individuals, which differed 

 as much in configuration and proportions from the previously determined species as 

 these did from one another. The most abundant remains belonged to the species above 

 defined under the name of Din. casuarinus ; but the most extraordinary species is that 



remains then no other conclusion than that it must represent a fifth distinct species, of which there are neither 

 tibiae nor metatarsi in the present collection. I venture to surmise, that the tibia, and especiallj' the tarso- 

 metatarsus of this species, will be found relatively longer and more slender than in the Din. struthoides and 

 Din. didiformis: so much may be anticipated from the more slender proportions of the femur, which moreover 

 resembles the femur of the Emeu in some of the characters by which it differs from the above species of Dinornis." 

 —hoc. cit. p. 252. 



