238 AVES. 



scattered bones in the superficial deposits of the same 

 country. 



Sub-Order 4. Immanes. 



The extinct "Moas" (Dinornithidae) survived in New 

 Zealand until comparatively modern times and were regularly 

 hunted by the Maories. They are, however, known only from 

 accidentally dried " mummies " occasionally found in fissures or 

 caves, and from bones and egg-shells met with abundantly both 

 in superficial deposits (especially swamps) and in the refuse 

 heaps at the cooking places of the old natives. No remains 

 hitherto discovered seem to date back beyond the Pleistocene 

 period, except perhaps a few very fragmentary bones from beneath 

 a lava-stream near Timaru, which may be Pliocene. The birds 

 represented belong to a very large number of forms; but so 

 many isolated and theoretically-grouped bones have received 

 desultory names, that their taxonomy is in almost complete 

 confusion. Several genera are certainly represented, but it is 

 still impossible to assign definite limits either to the genera or 

 species. The Moas seem to have lived under the conditions 

 most favourable for endless variation ; for they were a herbivorous 

 race apparently well supplied with food and without the check 

 due to the presence of carnivorous animals preying upon them. 

 In all the genera the wings are extremely rudimentary or en- 

 tirely wanting; the femur is usually destitute of pneumatic 

 foramina ; the tibio-tarsus exhibits a bony bridge over the 

 groove for the extensor tendons ; while digits li to IV are always 

 present, and no. I (the hallux) sometimes occurs. The beak is 

 short and slightly deflected. The only known feathers bear a 

 large aftershaft, thus differing from those of the New Zealand 

 Apteryx, and resembling the feathers of the Emeus and Casso- 

 waries. 



Dinornis (fig. 144 B). This is the typical genus of the Dinornithidse and 

 comprises the largest known species. In the skull the occipital plane is 

 inclined forwards, and the occipital crest is usually indistinct; the tem- 

 poral fossae are large. The beak is relatively wide, though pointed. The 

 quadrate is antero-posteriorly extended, and with a very large pneumatic 

 foramen. The vertebrae are nearly 60 in number, one-third of which are 

 cervical, and another third included in the sacrum. The sternum is about 



