ON THE FORM AND STRUCTURE OF 

 DINORNIS GIGANTEUS. 



ABOUT twenty-one years ago, a small piece of 

 bone that had arrived among a consignment of 

 fossils sent from New Zealand to the Museum of 

 the College of Surgeons, baffled several of the 

 leading geologists of that day by the remarkable 

 peculiarities of its structure. Though equal in 

 circumference to the thigh bone of a horse, it 

 possessed that singular cellular formation found 

 only in birds. On this account it could clearly 

 have belonged to no quadruped ; the question was, 

 to what unknown form must they then refer it ? 

 After remaining some time in doubt, the relic was 

 handed over to Professor Owen, in the hope that 

 he would solve the mystery. After a long and 

 careful examination, be concluded at last, from 

 diligent comparison with other bones, that it must 

 have belonged to a bird partaking in a great degree 

 of the ostrich's generic character, but of far greater 



