1865.] MR. W. S. DALLAS ON THE FEATHERS OF DINORNIS. 265 
one from a male animal and the other from a female, the one weighed 
10 lbs., the other 12 lbs.,—the small lower jaw cf one weighing 
45 Ibs. Of the skulls of two Horses weighed, one was 104 Ibs., and 
the other 11 lbs. 
But there is another remarkable peculiarity in the skull of the 
Camel, that has not been, I think, sufficiently noticed, viz. the Go- 
rilla-like form of the upper and back part; indeed I can find no 
animal that has so great a resemblance to the Gorilla in this parti- 
cular as the Camel. The large size, too, of what are called the true 
canine teeth, which in some male Camels exceed the length of 2 
inches (out of the gum), is another curious affinity ; and the early 
obliteration of the cranial sutures may be mentioned as a third, 
although I believe, from the examination of a great many skulls of 
the Gorilla, that they are earlier effaced in this animal; but the 
rough and unequal condition of the cranial surface for the firmer 
attachment of muscle is far greater in the Gorilla. 
In the Camel the occipital, the sharp parietal, and the triangular 
frontal ridges are all present, as in the Gorilla; but the occipital ridge 
is often deeper than that in the anthropoid Ape. 
Another deviation in the Camelide is worthy of notice: they 
have only twelve ribs, whilst the great majority of ruminants have 
thirteen ; the Giraffe, as is well known, has fourteen. The number 
of lumbar vertebree in the Camels is seven, as in the Oxen. Under 
the microscope there is a marked difference in the hair of the Bac- 
trian Camel and that of one-humped Camel: the former is of a. 
more woolly character. As is well known, the blood-corpuscles of 
the Camelide are of an elliptical form ; but in the animal I have lately 
dissected, from the great amount of pulmonary disorganization, the 
white corpuscles of the blood were very abundant, and these were 
all round—a fact, I think, of some physiological importance. 
2. On THE FEATHERS OF DiInoRNIS ROBUSTUS, OWEN. 
By W. S. Dauuas, F.L.S., Kreper or York Museum. 
The acquisition by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society of a spe- 
cimen of Dinornis robustus, Owen, in so perfect a state of preserva- 
tion that it retains even portions of the muscular and integumentary 
systems, enables me to describe at least a part of the structure of the 
feathery covering of this remarkable bird, and thus to throw some 
further light upon its affinities among birds with which we are ac- 
quainted in the living state. The general condition of the skeleton 
was described by Mr. Allis in a paper read before the Linnean Society 
in June last ; and Professor Owen has since made use of one or two 
portions of it for the completion of his description of the species, in a 
paper communicated to this Society ; but the fact of the occurrence 
of the feathers, however imperfect, of a bird which, as far as our in- 
formation goes, has long been extinct, seems to call for some special 
notice. 
