[ 373 ] 



XV. On the Cranial Osteology, Classification, and Phylogeny of the DiiiornithidEe. By 

 Tr^J^EFFERT PiUJKER, D.Sc, F.RM., Professor of Biology in the University of 

 Otago, Bunedin, Neio Zealand. 



Received December 5th, 1S92, read February l-ith, 1893. 



[Plates LVI.-LXII.] 



Contents. Page 



1. Introductory . 373 



2. List of Specimens examined 374 



3. A Comparative Account of the Skull in the Diuornithida? 380 



4. A Comparison of the Skulls of the Dinoruithidaj with those of the other Eatitae . . 398 



5. Measurements of the SkuUs of the Ratitaj 405 



6. Summary of the Cranial Characters of the Ratita? . . 408 



7. The Classification of the Dinornithidte 413 



8. Summarj- of Cranial Characters of the Subfamilies and Genera of the Dinornithidie. 417 



9. The Phylogeny of the Ratita; 423 



List of Works referred to 427 



Explanation of the Plates 429 



List of Abbreviations 430 



1. Introductory. 



A FIRST glance at the magnificently illustrated series of memoirs by Sir Richard 

 Owen on the osteology of the Dinornithidse gives tlie impression that the whole subject 

 has been exhausted ; but a more careful perusal, aided by a comparison with the recent 

 works of Lydekker (12) and Ilutton (9), is enough to show that the material at Sir R. 

 Owen's disposal was far from complete, that skulls were assigned to the skeletons of 

 certain species on purely conjectural grounds, and that some of the figures were even 

 made up of portions belonging to difiiereut species. The reason of this confusion is 

 that it is extremely seldom that the bones of a single individual skeleton, or even the 

 parts of a single individual skull, are found associated together and apart from those 

 of other individuals. 



It is to this circumstance that the chief difficulty of the present investigation was 

 due — the difficulty of assigning correct names to the various skulls examined. To 

 mention only the two most recent authorities : Lydekker describes four genera and 

 nineteen species ; liutton seven genera and twenty-six species : species associated in a 

 single genus by the one are widely separated by the other : and, most confusing of all, 

 skulls assigned by Lydekker to certain species are considered by Hutton to have 

 been wrongly associated with the leg-bones upon which the species were founded. 

 Moreover, while my enquiries fully confirm the view that the Dinornithidae are divisible 



VOL. XIII. — PART XI. No. 1. — October, 1895. 3 h 



