750 DR. J. HECTOR ON THE BONES OF DINORNIS. [ Dee. 12, 
by Mr. Payne. This specimen was restored by the writer, and mea- 
sured when together 6 feet 2 inches, the length of the tibia being 353 
inches. It formed one of the most striking objects in the museum 
part of the Exhibition. It was found in alluvial soil at Ommaru; 
and it is not improbable that the rest of the skeleton might be 
found if searched for. 
3. The three heads of Dinornis ingens(?), figures of which are en- 
closed, were exhibited by Mr. Coates of the gold-fields department. 
They were found in digging a ditch in alluvial soil. They were ac- 
companied by imperfect skeletons of at least three different birds. 
4, A large collection of bones, principally tarso-metatarsals, from 
marine ovens on the sandhills along the coast, where they are mixed 
with bones of Seals and fish and with native implements of chert, 
hornstone, and nephrite. 
5. Collections of bones from different parts of the interior, where 
they lie on the surface or are imbedded in shallow alluvial deposits. 
Either collected by the writer, or contributed by the settlers and 
persons on the gold-fields. Among them is a splendid pelvis of D. 
giganteus. 
6. Case of bones containing three heads, collected by F. Fenwick, 
Esq. ; also a number of fragments of egg-shells and small leg-bones 
of D. ingens. 
7. The gold-fields department exhibited a collection of very fine 
bones of D. ingens from the Wahatepu Lake. 
8. In the Canterbury collections exhibited by Dr. Haast there 
were some fine bones of the following species, according to the cata- 
logue :—D. robustus, didiformis, elephantopus, casuarinus, struthi- 
oides, and Palapteryx ingens. These were principally leg-bones, 
one sternum, and some vertebree. Among the latter there is one 
unique specimen in which the crushed vertebree are intermixed with 
smooth pebbles of quartz of the size of large beans, and which must, 
from their position, have been within the body of the animal, thus 
proving these smooth pebbles, that are so frequently found with Moa- 
bones, to be really “‘ crop-stones,”’ as has been conjectured. 
9. The only other collection of Moa-bones in the Exhibition was 
that of M. Colenso from Hawkes Bay, being the only Moa-bones 
shown from the north island. They were very fine specimens of leg- 
bones, apparently of D. ingens. 
10. One of the most curious objects of natural history in the 
Exhibition was a nearly complete Moa’s egg, which was found in a 
cave in the Waizon valley, in the province of Marlborough. This egg 
was found resting in the hands of the skeleton of a native, who, ac- 
cording to the usual custom, had been interred in a sitting posture. 
It measures 94 inches in length and 7 in breadth, and is complete, 
all but a few fragments a little over an inch in diameter, which have 
been broken from one side. The fragments have, however, been 
preserved and are shown along with the egg; and, from the manner 
in which the egg is placed, the fracture cannot be perceived. 
Fragments of Moa’s eggs are frequently found in various parts of 
the country, and Mr. Mantell satisfied himself that they must have 
been used as food by the natives. He inferred this from finding 
