78 Mixcellaneotis. 



tlie same kind in the natives' hair ; they were of a black or dark co- 

 lour with a purple edge, having quills like those of the albatros in 

 size, but much coarser ; he saw a Moa bone which reached four inches 

 above his hip from the ground, and as thick as his knee, with flesh 

 and sinews upon it. The flesh looked like bull-beef. The slaves 

 who were from the interior said it was still to be found in the island. 

 The natives told him the one whose flesh he had seen was a dead 

 one which they had found accidentally ; that thej' had often endea- 

 voured to snare them, but without success. A man named George 

 Pauley, now living in Foveaux Strait, told him he had seen the Moa, 

 which he described as being an immense monster, standing about 

 twenty feet high. He saw it near a lake in the interior. It ran from 

 him, and he also ran from it. He saw its foot-marks before he came 

 to the river Tairi and the mountains. Thomas Chassland, the man 

 who interpreted for Memaul, was well acquainted with the Maori 

 language. He also saw the flesh, and at first they thought it was 

 human. 



Believing that any information upon the subject of Trilobites is at 

 all times acceptable to the scientific world, I venture to tell you of a 

 remarkable portion of one found a few days past by me. It is an 

 " Isoteliis megistos" and I think presents the most remarkable evi- 

 dence of their gigantic size of any specimen now extant. It was found 

 in our blue limestone strata, and presents the tail or " post abdomen," 

 and seven of the segments across the back nearly entire. Its width 

 \s 9\ inches, and its length a little exceeds this. Thus you perceive, 

 that if we had the other segment and the head, we should have one 

 entire that would measure at least 1 8^ inches in length and 9^ in 

 breadth. 



I see that M. Barrande of Prague is of the opinion that trilobites 

 change greatly according to age. Of the correctness of that opinion 

 I should have some doubts, as I have a variety of the Isotelus me- 

 gistos from half an inch up to the gigantic one above mentioned, and 

 I find no difference in them either in proportions or segments, each 

 having eight, and each portion being equal in length. I have also 

 numerous specimens of the Culymene senaria from the size of the 

 smallest pea up to the size of 1 inch in width, and in them I find no 

 difference. And of several other varieties, I have many portions of 

 different ages, all of which have exact resemblance. Of the Cahjmene 

 Blumenhachii I have them from 1 inch to 3i in length, more or less 

 perfect, and in them I find no change in appearance. Thus it would 

 appear that in our varieties, at least, we have no metamorphosis of the 

 earliest of the moving animals. However, I have not seen his work, 

 and the notice of it may be too short to give a correct idea of what he 

 means. 



Carrolton, Montgomery Co., Ohio, April 18, 1850. 



* In a letter addressed by Dr. Taylor to the Editors of Silliraan's Ame- 

 rican JoiUTlfll. 



