320 



ZOOLOGY. 



[Osseous remains of the Moa, or Dinornis. It is now no longer 

 doubtful that such remains, which abound in New Zealand, be- 

 longed to a gigantic bird called Moa by the natives, and Dinornis 

 by zoologists. It is even conjectured that living specimens existed 

 in New Zealand not long ago. In this case the bird forms, as it 

 were, a link between the now living world and the past. 



I 



Fig. 299. Skeleton of Dinornis. 



Fig. 299a. 



In respect of the bones (Fig. 299a) represented in the engrav- 

 ing, they were discovered by my esteemed Mend, John Stevenson, 

 Esq., formerly of Auckland, in a marsh or swamp in the 

 Middle Island, not far from Canterbury, at a depth of three 

 or four feet from the surface. On being brought to this 

 country, they were presented to the Geological Museum, in 

 Jermyn-street, by the publisher of this work. Mr. Stevenson 

 informs us that numerous similar specimens lay around. 



On a careful examination of these remains I found them to be 

 the right femur and the left tibia of a gigantic moa, whose height 

 I have endeavoured to estimate, and to compare with that in 

 the Museum of the College of Surgeons, with the same bones in 

 the ostrich and emeu. The specimens are incomplete, being 

 mutilated at their extremities. 



