DINORNIS GIGANTEUS. 81 



therefore fairly imagine that from its nocturnal and 

 solitary habits, the Moa is likely still to exist in 

 limited numbers in the more secluded parts of the 

 island, not yet visited by Europeans. Additional 

 reason for supposing these noble birds to exist is 

 found in the fact that specimens of their eggs have 

 been preserved. In the volcanic sand of Cloudy 

 Bay Mr. W. Mantell found a gigantic egg, which we 

 may reasonably infer to be that of either Dinornis 

 or Palapteryx, of which he gives us a familiar idea 

 by saying that his hat would have been but just 

 large enough to serve as an egg-cup for it. But 

 about the same time as Mr. Mantell's discovery, 

 one of equal interest was made in Madagascar. 

 The master of a French ship obtained, in 1850, from 

 natives of the island, two eggs of far greater size, 

 and fragments of the tibiae of an immense bird. 

 The native statement was that one of the eggs had 

 been found entire in the bed of a torrent, among 

 the debris of a landslip ; and that a second egg, 

 with some fragments of bone, was subsequently 

 discovered in an alluvial formation. These two 

 arrived in Europe entire, and formed the subjects 

 of valuable investigations by Professors Owen and 

 Geoffrey St. Hilaire. The two, though nearly alike 

 in size, differed considerably in their relative pro- 

 portions and shape, the one being shorter and 

 thicker, with more equal ends, than the other. The 



