On tioo Species o/" Alveolites and one o/'AmpIexopora. 175 



The spontaneous extinction of these birds Is therefore very 

 difficult to understand. Nevertheless we must admit that 

 natural causes were opposed to the indefinite duration of cer- 

 tain species. To judge from the known facts, it seems to be 

 demonstrated that the largest species of Dinornis was no 

 longer in existence when man reached these isolated lands in 

 the midst of the ocean. The other species of the same genus 

 and those of Palapteryx appear to have been very rare at this 

 epoch, and not to have long survived the arrival of the 

 hunters ; they were consequently in process of natural de- 

 crease. On the contrary, the individuals of Meionornis and 

 Euryapteryx seem to have been very numerous before the 

 moment when the war of extermination, carried on with 

 such improvidence, commenced*. In consequence of geo- 

 graphical conditions they could not emigrate like the reindeer, 

 and their mode of life prevented them from seeking a retreat 

 in the midst of the glaciers, as the chamois has done with 

 us. They were consequently annihilated, but only in modern 

 days, like the Dodo and those other birds of the Mascarene 

 islands, of which M. Alphonse Edwards has recast or com- 

 pleted the history f. 



XXII. — On two Species o/" Alveolites and one o/'AmpIexopora 

 from the Devonian Rocks of Northern Queensland. By 

 Robert Etheridge, Jun., and Arthur H. Foord, 



F.G.S. 



[Plate VI.] 

 Introduction. 



The interesting species described below form part of a 

 collection of Corals lately received by one of us from Mr. 

 R. L. Jack, F.R.G.S. &c.. Government Geologist for North 

 Queensland. The localities given on the instructions accom- 

 panying the specimens are liegan's, Philp's, and Benville's 



* The following shows, according to Dr. Haast, in what proportion 

 the various species of Moas are represented at Glenmark : — Meionornis 

 casuarinus alone represents one fourth, and M. didifunnis one fifth, of the 

 total number of individuals discovered. Then come, in decreasing num- 

 bers : — Palapteryx elephant opus, Euryapteryx gravis, Palapteryx crassus, 

 and Euryapteryx rheides ; Dinornis gracilis, struthioides, muximus, and 

 robtcstus occur in nearly equal numbers. Dinornis ingens is represented 

 only by a few individuals. 



t " Keclierchcs sur la fouue oruithologique eteinte des iles Mascareigues 

 et de Madagascar," by Alphonse Milne- Edwards, 18(36-79. 



