Relations of the New-Zealand Fauna. 29 



New Zealand a new species, or they would certainly have 

 mentioned it ; neither did Lesson in 1827, nor Quoy and 

 Gaimard in 1831. Dr. DiefFenbach in 1842 was the first to 

 state that a frugivorous rat, distinct from J/, ratius., existed in 

 New Zealand, he probably not being aware that M. rattus is 

 entirely frugivorous. I am therefore of opinion that both the 

 rat and the dog were brought by human agency ; and it is 

 worth remarking that the Maori traditions relate that they 

 brought both with them (Travers, Trans. N. Z. Inst. iv. 

 p. 58). The specimen oi Mus Gouldim the Auckland Museum 

 (see Trans. N. Z. Inst. iii. p. 3) was caught, I believe, at the 

 Thames in January 1853 ; and as a mission-station had been 

 established there some years previously, this specimen was no 

 doubt brought over from Australia in their vessel. 



The animal seen at Dusky Bay by some of Captain Cook's 

 sailors (Second Voyage, i. p. 98) was probably a dog, as none 

 on board had at that time seen a dog in New Zealand. 



The evidence of a kind of otter inhabiting the South Island 

 rests upon some footprints seen by Dr. Haast, and mentioned 

 by him in his first presidential address to the Canterbury Phi- 

 losophical Society (Nat. Hist. Rev. 1864, p. 30). In the 

 same address he also mentions having seen tracks in great 

 numbers of a small jumping mammal in the river-bed of the 

 Hopkins ; but as no further evidence of the existence of these 

 creatures has been adduced, although eight or nine years have 

 since elapsed, it is impossible for me to take any further 

 notice of them in this paper. 



Birds. 



The first point that claims our attention here is the great 

 development of the Struthious birds. This division can be 

 subdivided into two families — one {Apterygidce) containing 

 only the kiwis, and the other {Struthionidce) including all 

 other living forms as well as the extinct moas. The kiwis in 

 the structure of the egg-shell have an affinity with the Cari- 

 nate division of birds. Their short legs, and the presence of 

 a hind toe elevated above the level of the others, show an 

 approach to the Gallinaceous order ; while their long bill, with 

 its slightly swollen tip, resembles in some measure that of the 

 Scolopacidee, which have also the same habit as the kiwi of 

 feeling about on the ground with their bill. Gallinago ^^usilla, 

 moreover, lives in holes, and only comes out at night (Travers, 

 see Art. xxii.). 



Thus the Apterygidse have a more generalized structure 

 than the other Struthious birds ; they therefore belong to an 

 older type, and cannot with any degree of correctness be said 



