Extinct Birds of Queensland. 531 



to new and extinct genera, while the remainder are included 

 among genera still existing. 



Some of these remains are considered to belong to types 

 which might naturally be expected to occur in an assemblage 

 of birds from the Australian region, such as Tribonyx, 

 Porphyria, Dendrocygna, Biziura, Pelecanus, and Dromaeus, 

 together with an extinct type {Frogura) allied to the living 

 Goura. A Moa and a form considered to be allied to the 

 Kiwi are, however, unexpected elements in an Australian 

 avifauna. So far as the femur referred to the Moas {Din- 

 ornithida;) is concerned, it appears to me that the specimen is 

 rightly determined (judging from the figure) ; and, if there 

 is no doubt about its Australian origin, we must apparently 

 admit that this group of birds was formerly represented in 

 Australia. I shall have more to say about the presumed 

 Apteryx-Wke bird in the sequel. 



Including Owen's Dromornis, out of a total 28 species of 

 birds recognized by Mr. De Vis, 9 of the 24 genera to which 

 they are assigned are regarded as extinct ; and the author is 

 thus led to consider that the deposits in which these remains 

 occur are of early Pliocene rather than Pleistocene age. 

 I have, however, considerable doubts whether all these so- 

 called genera will be eventually admitted as valid ; while, 

 apart from this, the number of extinct birds occurring in the 

 superficial deposits of New Zealand, some of which undoubt- 

 edly belong to the human period, shows that very little 

 weight can be attached to such inferences. 



With regard to the presumed generic distinctness from all 

 existing forms of some of the remains described by Mr. De 

 Vis, I may observe that many of the specimens are so 

 fragmentary and battered that in my opinion it is extremely 

 hazardous to attempt even their generic determination. 

 I may, however, premise that if such specimens had been 

 obtained from a deposit like the London Clay, where, from 

 its age, the probability is so great as to amount almost to 

 a certainty that they would belong to extinct genera, I 

 should not so much object to the founding of genera upon 

 such fragmentary remains. But the question is very different 



