14 PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE GENUS DINORNIS. 



The shaft of the femur of the Apteryx is characterized by the convexity of the fore 

 part of the shaft in the direction of its axis, which is due, not only to a sHght bending 

 of the wliole shaft forwards, but to an enlargement in that direction of the middle of the 

 fore part of the shaft : the trochanter does not rise much above the neck and head of 

 the bone : its anterior border, which is thick and rounded, is produced : the broad outer 

 and back part of the condyle is impressed by coarse irregular grooves and pits. Two 

 intermuscular ridges diverge from the middle of the back part of the bone to each con- 

 dyle. The fore part of the outer condyle is slightly inclined inwards. There is no 

 'foramen pneumaticum.' 



The tarso-metatarse (tigs. 7 & 8) presents the general characters of that compound 

 bone in the Palapteryx : but the intercondyloid tubercle is relatively higher, and the 

 inner border of the entocondyloid fossa is more convex : the ectocalcaneal process is also 

 better developed and more distinct from the mesocalcaneal one : the chief tendinous 

 groove lies, however, between this and the entocalcaneal process. The back part of the 

 mesometatarse projects and supports, as a buttress, the mesocalcaneal process : on 

 each side of this are the interosseous foramina which converge as they extend forwards, 

 but open separately into the anterior fossa below the proximal end of the bone. This 

 fossa is relatively larger and deeper than in Palapteryx or Dinornis, but is not extended 

 so far down the bone as in Notornis. The rough articular depression (i, fig. 7) for the 

 syndosmosis of the hallux is well-marked. The meso-metatarse advancing forwards at 

 its lower half, makes a median prominence at that part of the common shaft : the 

 groove between it and the ectometatarse is well-marked, and just before its termination 

 it shows a small perforation from before backwards : this is the most distinctive mark 

 between the tarso-metatarse of the Apteryx and that of the Palapteryx. The inner con- 

 dyle is the least produced, the middle one the most, and in a somewhat greater degree 

 than in the Palapteryx. The trochlear groove deeply impresses the whole extent of 

 the middle condyle: it is more feebly marked on the lateral condjdes, except poste- 

 riorly where the lateral border of each is produced backwards. 



When the general results of the restoration of extinct species and their relations to 

 existing species of the different continents and islands of the globe are first received, they 

 commonly suggest the idea that the races of animals have deteriorated in respect of size. 

 The more striking pheenomena first and most strongly impress the mind ; which contrasts, 

 for example, the great Cave-Bears of Europe with the actual Brown Bear ; the Megathe- 

 rioids of South America with the small existing Sloths ; and the gigantic Glyptodons with 

 the Armadillos. The huge Diprotodon and Nototherium afford a similar contrast with 

 the Kangaroos of Australia ; and the towering Dinornis and Palapteryx with the humble 

 Apteryx of New Zealand. But the comparatively diminutive animals of South America, 

 Australia and New Zealand that form the nearest allies of the gigantic extinct species 

 respectively characteristic of such tracts of dry land, are yet specifically if not generi- 

 cally distinct from them, nor have such small species been more recently introduced. 



