266 MK. W.S. DALLAS ON THE FEATHERS OF DINORNIS. [Mar. 14, 
At first sight, indeed, it would seem that the fresh condition of 
many parts of this skeleton, and the preservation of traces of the soft 
parts, might warrant us in supposing that many years have not 
elapsed since the bird to which it belonged wandered over the hills 
of Otago; but all possibility of drawing from these circumstances 
any conclusions as to the period of its death is set aside by the fact 
that other parts of the skeleton are in a state of decay which would 
apparently require a free exposure to the weather for many years for 
its production. 
The portion of skin which bears the remains of feathers covered 
the greater part of the flat, rhombic region of the pelvis immediately 
above the commencement of the tail, and extended, on the left side, 
beyond the ridge bounding this part of the pelvis, and for some dis- 
tance down the slope of its side, where it has beneath it the aponeu- 
rotic portion of some of the great muscles of the thigh. The feather- 
bearing portion forms a sort of broad, irregular, transverse band 
across this region of the pelvis, encroached upon anteriorly by a wide 
semicircular notch, and posteriorly, a little to the right of the centre, 
by an irregular worn space exhibiting numerous perforations, indica- 
ting the former positions of feathers which have disappeared. The 
skin itself is rather thick and coarse. The remains of feathers occur 
only on that part of the skin which covered the flat back of the pelvis, 
in which their insertions give rise to strongly marked papille. The 
skin on the sloping left side of the pelvis bears no feathers, and pre- 
sents no traces of their insertion. It appears, however, to have lost 
some of its outer layers, and certainly does not furnish evidence suf- 
ficient to prove the existence of a featherless space at this part, which 
would be opposed to Nitzsch’s description of the pterylography of 
the Struthionide. 
The feathers are all very imperfect, consisting only of the basal 
portions of the shaft and accessory shaft, with here and there some 
traces of the barbs. The latter occur most abundantly towards the 
left side, and especially in the feathers situated upon the left ridge, 
from which the specimen here figured (fig. 1) was taken. The shafts 
are always evidently imperfect ; the longest fragment existing in the 
skin is only about 2 inches in length. The stem tapers gradually, 
the quill being the widest part and about =4,th of an inch in dia- 
meter. The quill is inserted about ;8;ths of an inch into the skin, 
and the webs appear generally to have commenced about ;,th of an 
inch from the junction of the quill with the shaft. From these data 
it is of course impossible to form any opinion as to the original length 
of the feathers. 
The accessory shafts are considerably smaller than the main shafts, 
but still of sufficient size to constitute an important portion of the 
plumage. The longest accessory shaft that I have been able to find 
measures 13 inch in length, and is imperfect ; there is little doubt 
that the accessory shafts were both shorter and more slender than 
the true feathers. 
The shaft is somewhat convex above, and marked with a fine lon- 
gitudinal furrow beneath. It is of a brown colour beneath, but pale 
