]64 M. Geoflroy Saint-Hilalre on some Bones and Eggs 



and, in the other, 16; they are therefore to one another as : ; 2 : 1. 

 With respect to their bulk, it has been seen above that these eggs 

 are nearly : ; 6 : 1. Are we to suppose that the two birds have 

 the same proportions as their eggs ? The Ostrich being 2 metres 

 high, the height of the ^pyornis would then reach 4 metres. 

 We think that it would be erroneous to admit this proportion. 

 If we possessed no other elements of determination than the eggs 

 of the ^pijornis, we should have to recollect that, even amongst 

 birds very nearly allied, the dimensions of the eggs are far from 

 being exactly proportional to the size of the species which pro- 

 duce them : the estimate therefore which we have mentioned, 

 would for this reason alone be very doubtful. But we can go 

 still further : we think that even at present we are warranted 

 in reducing this estimate*. According to the comparison of the 

 osseous parts, the jEpyomis must be a less slender bird and with 

 legs proportionally shorter than the Ostrich. Possibly its size 

 was, with relation to that of the latter bird, almost in the pro- 

 portion of 6 to 1 ; but its body was not supported on limbs quite 

 double the height. 



The estimate of the stature of the u^pyornis, as founded on a 

 comparison of that bird with other Rudipens than the Ostrich, 

 with the Emu, for example, confirms this inference. Calcu- 

 lated according to the long diameters of the eggs, it would give, 

 for the JEpyomis, no longer 4 metres, but only about 3-8 metres, 

 the Emu being 1*50 metre high, and its egg 0'125 metre 

 long. From the comparison of the terminal portion of the me- 

 tatarsal in the Emu, and the corresponding part in the JEpy- 

 omis, the one measuring 5 centimetres, and the other 12 centi- 

 metres, we should deduce a result which agrees very well with 

 the preceding : the height of the ^pyomis would be about 

 3'6 metres. 



We thus arrive, in various ways, at this conclusion, that the 

 Btature of the yEpyornis would be comprised between 3 and 4 

 metres, and consequently greater than that of the Dinornis gigan- 

 teus itself; since the stature attributed to this last by Prof. 

 Owent is a little less than 3 metres. We must remark, that 

 the comparison of the extremity of the metatarsal of our yEpy- 

 omis with the same part in the Dinornis, gives, in fact, a dif- 



* And it would even be reduced, by a comparison of the eggs, made, not 

 according to the long diameters, but after the transverse, or from the cir- 

 cumferences. The egg of the ^pyornis is proportionally a little more 

 elongated and less arched than that of the Ostrich. 



t On Dinornis, in the ' Transact, of the Zool. Society of London.' The 

 last of the plates of this remarkable memoir (pi. 30), Scale of altitude, 

 gives the Dinornis giganteus a height of 9^ feet (English), that is to say, 

 2 9 metres. This estimate is, however, lower than that which other authors 

 admit. 



