892 MR. G. DAWSON ROWLEY ON iEPYORNIS. [NoV. 28, 



Tbe following papers were read : — 



1. On the Egg of jEpyornis, the Colossal Bird of Madagascar. 

 By George Dawson Rowley, M.A.; F.Z.S. &c. 



The first notice of the remains of this bird was the paper in 1851 

 by M. Isidore Geoffroy St.-Hilaire (Comptes llendus, no. 4, 27 Jan- 

 vier). Succeeding that came Professor Owen's in the ' Proceedings ' 

 of this Society (18.52, p. 9). In 1863 Professor Bianconi put 

 forth a long and painstaking discussion upon the fragments of the 

 metatarsal which were discovered with the other bones. I had in- 

 tended to have a full translation of this made from the Italian ; but 

 the result of the first part was not equal to my expectations; I 

 therefore did not go on to the next, but believe Professor Bianconi 

 arrives at the conclusion that ^pijoriiis might be allied to the Vul- 

 tures — a notion which I do not tliink I need dwell upon. 



In 1864, having purchased the only specimen of the egg which, 

 as far as I know, ever came to England, I published a brochure on 

 the subject. 



This year, in August, I met M. Alfred Grandidier in Paris, and 

 had some conversation with him respecting Aipyornis maxima ; and 

 he in September read a communication on it to the French Academy, 

 displaying at the same time fresh fragments of eggs, which he had 

 himself dug up atCapeSaiuteMarie in Southern Madagascar, as shown 

 in the map which he has drawn and sent me, along with some of the 

 same fragments and his article uj)on them. I now have the satis- 

 faction of placing these before you. They are nine in number, one 

 having been apparently broken in coming. It is to this broken por- 

 tion to which I wish to direct your attention. The granulation is, in a 

 marked degree, different from that of the other pieces ; the difference 

 may easily be seen by the eye alone, and is still more apparent through 

 a magnifier. The air-pores, which in the other specimens seem 

 much like a comet with a tail, are here only small indentations with- 

 out any tail ; the shell also is only half the thickness, is much finer, 

 and presents an aspect so diverse that the difference is detected by 

 the most careless observer, even when the pieces are all mixed. These 

 fragments belonged to the egg of a much smaller bird, the embryo 

 of which required less strength in the shell. Yet the colour, quality, 

 and locality of that shell clearly point to a bird of the same family 

 as jEpyornis maxima — in short, a smaller and more delicate ^pyor- 

 nis. For this species I propose the name jEpyornis grandidieri. 



The number of eggs of ^pyornis discovered up to this time I take 

 to be as follows : — Four in the museum of the Jardin des Plantes, of 

 which I exhibit casts of the two first found, sent me by M. E. Vcr- 

 reaux, and also casts of the three portions of bone discovered with 

 them. Two more eggs were shown by M. C. Talavande in the 

 Venezuelan department of the Paris exhibition, both with very large 

 holes, having probably been used by the natives for holding water. 

 I took their dimensions, which arc as follows: — No. 1, great circum- 

 ference 3;^|- inches, small circumference 29| inches ; this egg was 



