LETTERS FROM PROFESSOR R. OWEN. 171 



be made out of a single fragment of bone. Three years 

 after that fragment was interpreted, a box containing 

 femora, tibia, a metatarsal bone, and portions of pelvis, ver- 

 tebrae, &c., was transmitted to Dr. Buckland from New 

 Zealand, who generously placed them at my disposal. They 

 were described at the meeting of the Zoological Society, 

 January 24, 1843, and established the fact that at no very 

 remote period, say a couple .of centuries ago, there 

 existed in New Zealand a tri-dactyle struthious bird, one 

 third larger than the African ostrich, resembling the apte- 

 ryx in the proportions of the tibia to the metatarsus, and 

 in the absence of air in the femur, and, therefore, most 

 probably in the rudimental state of the wings. Now the 

 metatarsal bone of this bird, which I have called Dinornis 

 Nova Zelandia, is fully large enough to have sustained three 

 toes equivalent to produce impressions of the size of those 

 of the Ornithicnites giganteus of Professor Hitchcock. 



This I had the pleasure to demonstrate to Mr. Boot of 

 Boston, during his late visit to London. It seems most 

 reasonable, therefore, to conclude that the Ornithicnites are 

 the impressions of the feet of birds which had the same 

 low grade of organization as the Apteryx and the Dinornis 

 of New Zealand, and these latter may be regarded as the 

 last remnants of an apterous race of birds which seems to 

 have flourished at the epoch of the New Red Sandstones 

 of Connecticut and Massachusetts. 



Believe me, very faithfully yours, 



RICHARD OWEN. 



FROM PROFESSOR R. OWEN. 



LONDON, Royal College of Surgeons, 

 December 6, 1846. 



MY DEAR PROFESSOR SILLIMAN, I was much gratified 

 by -receiving your friendly note of November 20, and the 

 good wishes of your accomplished son, and your friend, 

 Mr. Dana. I regret to find that you have never received 



