\vi;s 



293 



has received information of skeletons of birds found deeply 

 imbedded in stratified clay at Aberdeen and Peterhead. 



The most extraordinary additions to the present class have 

 been obtained from the superficial deposits, turbaries, and caves 

 in New Zealand * 

 Tins island is re- 

 markable for the 

 absence of abori- 

 ginal species of 

 land - mammals, 

 and for the pre- 

 sence of a small 

 bird with very ru- 

 dimental wings, 

 and the keel-less 

 sternum and loose 

 plumage of the 

 Struthious order, 

 but of a peculiar 

 genus called Ap- 

 teryx : the legs 

 are veiy robust, 

 and have three 

 front toes and a 

 very small back 

 toe. Birds re- Fi S- 84 - 



... - A. Dinornis elephantopus. 



semblmg the g Leg-bones of Dinornis giganteus. 



A.ptevyx in the °, »'• Impressions called Ornithichnites. 



shape of the sternum and 1 tony structure of the pelvis and 

 hind limbs, some retaining also the small back toe, others 

 apparently without it, formerly existed in New Zealand 



* These remains are described in eight memoirs by the writer, published in 

 the third and fourth volumes of the Transactions of the Zoological Society 61 

 London. The description of the first fragment of the bone, indicative of the 

 Dinornis. is in vol, iii., p, 39, pi. :j. 



