190 Dr. A. B. Meyer on 



p. 438, 1900), concerning which Sir Walter Buller has given 

 me the following particulars : — 



"About the year 1898 an almost perfect specimen was 

 found by a gold-dredging party in one of the Otago rivers, 

 the Clutha or Molyneux [in the south of the South Island]. 

 It was brought up by the dredger and, being hollow, floated 

 on the surface of the water. The Government claimed it, 

 and threatened litigation for its recovery ; but, in the end, 

 the miner was allowed to sell it for .€50, for presentation to the 

 Otago Museum." Subsequently Dr. W. B. Benham, Curator 

 of this Museum, published similar items of information 

 (Tr. Pr. N.Z. Inst, xxxiv. p. 149, July 1902; read before the 

 Otago Institute, June 11th, 1901) with some description and 

 a rather insufficient reduced illustration (/. c. pi. vii.) . Size 

 195 by 135 mm., circumference 522 by 428 mm.; weight 

 286 - 5 gr. Dr. Benham (/. c. p. 150) refers the egg to 

 Euryapteryx ponderudus [?] or [Pachi/oniis] elephantopiis 

 (Owen) *. 



G. Krause (Illustrirte Zeitung, Leipzig, Nov. 21, 1901, 

 pp. 780, 781) had some time before figured a cast of this 

 egg of the natural size and given some details, furnished by 

 Dr. Benham. The Dresden Museum possesses such a cast. 



3. In July 1901 Mr. R. Barnekow, of Awahuri, North 

 Island, New Zealand, informed, me that "some hundred 

 miles " from his place a Moa's egg had been recently found, 

 and that it was in the possession of " The Dredging Co.," 

 which demanded no less than £500 for it — a price, moreover, 

 stated to be only a " reserve-price in the case of sale by 

 auction." The owner desci'ibed it as " in perfect condition 

 save for an almost imperceptible crack of about two inches ; 

 dimensions 9 by 5 inches" (229 by 127 mm.). I surmise 

 that this is the egg which was on sale by auction at Stevens's 

 Rooms, iu June of this year, described as " rather weather- 

 worn at one part and has been cracked and mended at the 



* Owen (Mem. Extinct Wingless Birds N.Z. 1879, pi. xc. p. 318) 

 reconstructed an egg of Pachyornis elephant opus (Owen) to 233 by 183 mm., 

 but in our present (and still very imperfect) state of knowledge of Moas" 

 efffs tbis is ratber doubtful. 



