168 Dr. Johnston on the Irish Annelides. 



order, and because of the close analogy which the event indicated 

 by the present relic offers to the extinction of the Dodo of the island 

 of the Mauritius. So far as a judgment can be formed of a single 

 fragment, it seems probable that the extinct bird of New Zealand, 

 if it prove to be extinct, presented proportions more nearly resem- 

 bling those of the Dodo than of any of the existing StruthionidcE. 



" Any opinion, however, as to its specific form can only be con- 

 jeptural ; the femur of the Stilt-bird (^Himantopus) would never have 

 revealed the anomalous development of the other bones of the leg ; 

 but so far as my skill in interpreting an osseous fragment may be 

 credited, I am willing to risk the reputation for it on the statement 

 that there has existed, if there does not now exist, in New Zealand, 

 a Struthious bird, nearly, if not quite, equal in size to the Ostrich." 



XIX. — Miscellanea Zoologica. By George Johnston, 

 M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edin- 

 burgh. 



[Continued from vol. iv. p. 375.] 



Contributions towards a History of the Irish Annelides. 



A LARGE collection of Irish Annelidans has been put in my 

 possession by my friend Wm. Thompson, Esq. of Belfast. 

 The collection was made partly by Dr. Drummond, Messrs. 

 Ball, Hyndman, and Allman, but principally by Mr. Thomp- 

 son himself, who had determined several of the species, and was 

 Mcll aware of the distinctions of others. As however the state 

 of his eyes forbade him the long use of the microscope, he de- 

 clined entering on their minuter examination, — a task which 

 I have too willingly undertaken, for I was loath to lose this 

 opportunity of having my name associated with those of the 

 most zealous and distinguished cultivators of Irish zoology. 



My attention having accidentally been called, in the first 

 place, to the genus Nereis, I proceed to give the results of a 

 careful examination of the many specimens of it in the col- 

 lection, as well as of some others procured from other sources; 

 and this will enable me to correct some blunders of a previous 

 Essay, and to characterize anew all the species which have 

 been hitherto ascertained to be natives of our shores. As of 

 most natural and typical genera in every class of animals and 

 of plants, the species appear to be numerous, and to resemble 



