Zoological Society. 439 



showed to me. He has sent two cases of them to Dr. Buckland, 

 together with a long letter, fully detailing the circumstances under 

 which they were found. I have no doubt but that he will ere this 

 have communicated the letter to you, that is, should it have safely 

 arrived. The bones are very perfect, not at all fossilized ; and have 

 been buried in the mud of freshwater streams communicating with high 

 mountains. Mr. Williams had bones of thirty different birds brought 

 to him in a short time after he set the natives about searching for 

 them. One of the largest leg-bones, which measures two feet ten 

 inches, and which has been sent to Dr. Buckland, leads him to think 

 that the bird must have been sixteen feet high ! A clergj^man who 

 came out in the Tomatia with us is going to be located in the Wairoa, 

 a river about seventy miles south of Poverty Bay, a locality in which 

 these bones have been found in the greatest plenty, and I will com- 

 mission him to save for me all he can in case you should not have 

 any in the distribution which Dr. Buckland is authorized by Mr. 

 Williams to make. No bones of the wings have been found. The 

 natives have some odd traditions about it, which you will see in the 

 letter. Strangely enough, after Mr. Williams had obtained the 

 bones, he heard of the bird as having been seen by two Englishmen 

 in the Middle Island. They were taken out by a native at night to 

 watch for the bird, which he had described to them ; the)' saw it, but 

 were so frightened that they did not dare to shoot at it, though they 

 had gone out expressly to do so. After this I should not be sur- 

 prised if the Zoological Society were to send out an army to take 

 the monster alive, for alive he most certainly is in my opinion." 



A paper was then read from M. Petit de la Saussaye, in which the 

 author describes the following new species of Shells, placed in his 

 hands for that purpose by Hugh Cuming, Esq. Among these, M. 

 Petit observes, are several which in his opinion form a new little 

 group, possessing well-marked characters, and which might be re- 

 garded as a subgenus, for which he proposes the name Elasmatina*. 

 These shells, which are all terrestrial, form a portion of the great 

 family Helicidce, and appear to be confined to certain islands in the 

 Pacific Ocean. They are of small size, transparent and fragile, and 

 their columella is always furnished at least with one tooth, and 

 sometimes with several teeth. The chief characters are thus ex- 

 pressed by the author : — 



Elasmatina. 

 Testa ovata, seu turrita, fragilis, pellucida ; columella uni- vel pluri- 

 dentata, dentibus lamelliformibus ; labrum tenue, acutura. 

 Elasmatina subulata. Elasm. testd conico-elongatd, cylindraced, 

 pellucida, dilute corned; anfractibus decennis, convexis, suturd 

 lineari, impressd; apice obtuso ; aperturd oblique obovutd ; colu- 

 mella dente lamelliformi intiisque decurrente instructd ; labro tenui, 

 acuto. Long. 6 mill. ; larg. 2 mill. 

 Hob. Island of Opara, Society Islands. 

 Found by Mr. Cuming in decayed grass, 



* From i>iec(Tu.x, lamella. 



