1870.] PROF. OWEN ON THE EXTINCTION OF DINORNIS. 55 
but no human bones; so that it seems certain that the inhabitants 
of these islands who hunted the Moa were not cannibals. There 
were, with the exception of sharp flakes of flint and obsidian, no 
stone implements which could have been used as weapons for warfare 
or chase; and I suppose, therefore, that these people manufactured 
wooden ones for such purposes, and that they caught the birds in 
pits or snares. I found also some pieces of translucent quartz, rock- 
crystal, chalcedony, agate, and cornelians, but not the least sign of 
greenstone or nephrite. It is therefore evident, although the Moa- 
hunter obtained flint from different and distant parts of this island, 
and obsidian from the northern island, that the use of the nephrite 
was not known, and that they had never visited the west coast. 
«Another proof of the primitive character of this people may be 
adduced from the total absence of ornaments of any kind made of a 
substance of permanent character. ‘There were, however, two ulnz 
of the Albatros, broken in the centre, which had both been neatly 
bored near the proximal end, and consequently might have been 
used as amulets or for ornament ; but I hope that further researches 
will give us a still greater insight into the life of this remarkable 
prehistoric people. I shall not fail to send more specimens from 
these kitchen-middens to England, so that you may be able to exa- 
mine them; and I trust that this preliminary communication will 
not be without interest to you. Should you consider these notes of 
sufficient importance to lay before the Geological or any other 
Society, I shall be very glad if you would do so. 
«I am expecting very anxiously the result of your examination 
of the bones sent to Mr. Flower, of which doubtless the British 
Museum has kept those which were wanted for the completion of 
the collection. 
“Your twelfth Memoir, containing the description of bones of D. 
maximus, was particularly useful to me, because I observed that my 
No. 18 is not only your D. maximus, but that the three leg-bones of 
Major Michael belong to the identical specimen of which we have 
the pelvis, right femur, tibia and fibula, and the two first dorsal 
vertebree in our Museum. It is thus evident why we could not 
succeed in finding the other bones, since they had been taken out of 
the drain, as I expected all along. I should like very much to 
obtain a cast of the tibia and metatarsus of your D. maximus to com- 
plete our leg; and if you like, I will send you a cast of the fibula. 
The fragment of metatarsus found in the drain belonged, as I sus- 
pected, to the same specimen. I thought and hoped that the bones 
you had described as of D. maximus belonged to a specimen of which 
we possess some phalanges and a few vertebre, and of which the 
leg-bones disappeared mysteriously from Glenmark. The men in 
excavating the drain got three leg-bones out, which they considered 
to have been 7 feet to 7 feet 6 inches together in length. Mr. 
Moore inspected them, and confirmed this statement. The men 
placed the bones carefully in the grass ; but when they returned after 
dinner to work, the bones were gone. I hope they will turn up some 
time. Should you like a drawing, with dimensions, of the pelvis, 
