92 



GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIIIDS. 



Case HH. 



Wall-cases 



23, 24. 



Table-ease 



12. 



Case GG. 



Wall-case 

 24. 



Wall-case 



25. 

 Case DD. 



Anoiiialopteryj: didiformis und Emeus [iravijjcs, are exhibited 

 in Case HH. There are also various more frafrmentary 

 specimens of Dinornithidfc in Wall-cases 23 and 24 and in 

 Table-case 12. In the latter may l^e noticed, besides eggs 

 and feathers, the mummified remains of the liead, neck and 

 legs of a small species from a very dry fissure-cavern in 

 Otago. This specimen shows, in addition to the skin, the 

 bony (sclerotic) plates round the eye, the tracheal rings of 

 the windpipe, and the sheath of the claws. ]\Iany of the more 

 fragmentary bones were obtained from tlie old cooking-places 

 of the jMacaies, who seemed to have hunted and fed u})on the 

 moas. 



As shoMii ])y the fine skeleton of Dinornis maxirans 

 (Plate V), the wing is more reduced in the Dinornithidfe 

 than in any other known birds. There is nothing beyond a 

 small scapulo-coracoid bone, which does not even bear a 

 socket for the limb. The feathers agree mucli more closely 

 with those of the Australian emus and cassowaries than 

 -with those of the New Zealand kiwis. 



In the Australian region there were emus in the Tleisto- 

 cene period. There was also another large Batite bird, 

 Genyornis newtoni, of which remains have been discovered 

 near lake Callabonna, South Australia. As shown by a 

 hind limb in Wall-case 24, it liad a remarkably slender inner 

 toe. It lived with the small-toed Dvprotodon already 

 mentioned (p. 78). 



Eatite birds were also abundant in Madagascar at a quite 

 recent geological period, although none now survive in that 

 island. They seem to have been most closely similar to the 

 Apteryj- and moas of Xew Zealand, and one species, Aepyorais 

 titan, of which there are limb-1 tones in Wall-case 25 and a 

 plaster cast of a limb on Stand II, probably exceeded in size 

 the largest of the New Zealand birds. A specimen of moderate 

 dimensions, .^C2:)?/or?u's7w/f?c5ra?if?i!i, is represented in Case DD 

 by a reconstructed skeleton, which exhibits a short and 

 broad ])reastbone, like that of Apteryx, with remains of a very 

 small wing. E,L!gs of Acpyornis are not uncommon in the sand 

 bordei-ing the lakes of ]\Iadagascar, and they are sometimes 

 washed out during stormy weather. Under these circumstances 

 they float on the water and are picked up by the natives. 

 Fine examples are shown in Case DD, The largest measures 

 three feet in its largest circumference by two feet six inches 

 in girth, and its liquid contents would equal a little more than 

 two gallons. Such eggs would probably be laid by the largest 



