702 Chronicles of Science. | Oct., 
left toe has the whole of the outer sole still adhering to it, as well as 
part of the sole of the foot. On the lower part of the back is still a 
considerable portion of the outer skin studded with the quill part of 
the feathers, and in one or two rare instances portions of the web of 
the feather. The bones of the neck still show greater or less marks of 
having been within reach of the destructive effects of the atmosphere, 
while the head at one extremity, and the first dorsal vertebra at the 
other, are each as perfect as though they had been taken from a fresh 
killed bird by the most skilful anatomist. Mr. Gibson, a resident in 
New Zealand, sent it to his brother, Dr. Gibson, of York, with a state- 
ment that it was discovered in a sand-hill, sitting on its eggs, by some 
diggers, about 100 miles up the country from Dunedin, to which place it 
was sent for sale. When the boxes were opened they were thought to 
contain only the bones of one adult bird, but an examination showed 
a number of small bones belonging to very young birds, its brood, 
consisting of five individuals. Dr. Hooker suggested that the perfect 
condition and high preservation of the bones might be due to ice; but 
Professor Huxley and others took a different view of the subject, and 
thought that the bird in question had probably been living within ten 
years. When we remember that in the Great Sahara the ostrich is 
only to be discovered at an immense distance, although there are no 
intervening objects behind which he could shelter, the moa, if possessed. 
of half the subtlety of the ostrich, might escape for years the notice of 
the few Europeans who have ventured to intrude on his haunts, and it 
is by no means impossible that this gigantic bird may exist to this day 
undiscovered. Explorations of the middle island are being made by 
Dr. Haast which promise soon to settle this interesting question. 
The great interest attending the discovery of remains of animals 
recently extinct, or concerning whose present existence zoologists are 
in great doubt, has led Mr. Alfred Newton to follow up the researches 
of the late Mr. John Wolley upon the great Auk, or Gare fow! (Alca 
impennis), which he has done so successfully as to have secured from 
Funk or Penguin Island, 170 miles north of St. John’s, Newfoundland, 
a natural mummy of that curious bird, which vies with the dodo in 
ornithological interest. Although numerous skins of the bird exist in 
various museums of Europe, the osteology was very imperfectly known, 
and the present mummy is, with one exception, the only approach to 
a complete skeleton existing in Kurope. Mr. Newton has placed it in 
the hands of Professor Owen, from whom no doubt we shall receive an 
elaborate monograph upon the subject. 
Mr. William Bennett gives an account of his attempts at breeding 
Emeus (Dromius) in Surrey, which throw some light upon the 
economy of struthious birds. In 1863 the female continued laying 
until she had deposited twenty-eight eggs, weighing about forty pounds. 
The male bird was set upon fourteen of these, and the remainder placed 
in anincubator. For amonth all went on well, but in the fifth week the 
birds were so greatly excited by the appearance of a boat, that the eggs 
were left. Those in the incubator all failed also, although the chicks 
had nearly reached maturity. A new lot of eggs began to be deposited 
on December 28rd, and on February 14th (of the present year) the 
