MO AS. 



45 



small impressions for the rudimentary coracoids, which, in one of the larger species, 

 are only two inches long, while shoulder-blade and wing-bones seem to be wholly 

 wanting. The head is particularly small in the larger 

 species; D. parvus, the smallest species, has rela- 

 tively the largest skull. 



The size varied very noticeably in the different 

 species. The smallest (Dinornis parvus) was not 

 larger than a dodo ; others, for instance, D. ingens, 

 reached the African ostrich in size; D. maximus 

 was nine or ten feet high ; and other individuals have 

 been recorded having a height, when standing erect, 

 of thirteen to fourteen feet. Two series of different 

 size have been recognized in various species, and 

 from the analogy of Apteryx, the larger individuals 

 are regarded as females. 



The eggs, a considerable number of which have 

 been found, were of a dark green color, while others 

 seem to have been of a paler yellowish tint. Their 

 volume was considerably greater than that of ostrich 

 eggs, a recently found, nearly perfect, egg measuring 

 about ten inches in length by seven in breadth, or 

 " so large that a hat would make a good egg-cup for 

 it," but without equalling in capacity those of the 

 jEpiornis. In one of them the bones of a young 

 foetus were found, from which could be demon- 

 strated that even at that early age the bones be- 

 longing to the hind extremities were much more 

 voluminous than in the now existing types of Struthiones. 



But not only have the bones and eggs of moas been found in great numbers, but 

 also single feathers and parts of skeletons, with muscles, shreds of skin, and feathers 

 adhering, in a remarkable state of preservation. 



Some of the feathers were as bright as if they had just been pulled out. They 

 were double, in other words, were furnished with an ' aftershaft,' resembling some- 

 what those of the Australian wingless birds. In one species they were of a reddish 

 brown near the base, passing into black, while the rounded tip was pure white. 

 Others have been found of a pale yellowish brown color, others again of a blackish 

 brown. Feathers from a cave near Queenstown were reddish brown with a terminal 

 dark-brown shaft streak. These large feathers (some measuring as much as six inches) 

 probably covered the body. A most extraordinary specimen, consisting of seven 

 vertebrae from the lower end of the neck, with their muscles, skin, and feathers, 

 is so interesting, that we allow ourselves to make an abstract of the best description 

 accessible to us. 



Upon the portion of this specimen corresponding to the first dorsal vertebra?, the 

 skin is seen to be covered with large conical papillas which nearly touch each other, 

 and give the whole the appearance of a rasp. A certain number of these papilla 

 bear double-stemmed feathers of a reddish-chestnut color, furnished with barbs, and 

 nearly two inches long. The papillae diminish in size, and the feathers in length, on 

 arriving at the level of the vertebrae of the neck. Soon the feathers appear to be 



FIG. 20. Dmornis ingens. 



