LIVING IN THE SOCIETY'S MENAGERIE. 361 



believe that our specimen is from the same locality. As Mr. Bartlett's original skin of 

 D. irroratus was obtained in the interior of Southern Australia, the range of this Emeu 

 must be supposed to extend over the western portion of Australia into the latter colony, 

 where it probably inosculates with D. noveB-hollandice. 



V. Apteryx. 



But one example of this form of the Struthmnidce is believed to have ever been 

 brought alive to Europe. This bird, which was presented to the Society in 1852 by 

 Lieut. -Governor Eyre, and brought to England by Captain Erskine, R.N., of H.M.S. 

 ' Havannah,' is still living in the Society's Menagerie, and in good health. It is a female 

 bird of the species called Apteryx mantelli, if that be really distinct from Apteryx australis. 



On the 9th June, 1859, this bird laid an egg. The egg when deposited weighed 

 14Joz., the contents thereof weighing 13J oz. The weight of the living bird was ascer- 

 tained to be 60 oz. ; so that in this species the egg nearly equals one-fourth of the whole 

 weight of the bird '. 



To conclude my enumeration of the species of existing Struthiones, I add the 

 following particulars concerning the known species of Apteryx, as drawn up by myself 

 and Dr. F. v. Hochstetter for a Report to be presented at the next Meeting of the 

 British Association. 



1. Apteryx australis. 



Apteryx australis, Shaw, Nat. Misc. xxiv, pis. 1057, 1058, and Gen, Zool. xiii. p. 71 ; 

 Bartlett, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 275 ; Yarrell, Trans. Zool. Soc. i. p. 71, pi- 10. 



The Apteryx australis was originally made known to science about the year 1813, from 

 an example obtained in New Zealand by Captain Barclay, of the ship ' Providence.' 

 This bird, which was deposited in the collection of the late Lord Derby, was afterwards 

 described at greater length in 1833, in the ' Transactions of the Zoological Society,' 

 by Mr. Yarrell, and was still, at that date, the only specimen of this singular form 

 known to exist. Examples of Apteryges subsequently obtained, though generally 

 referred to the present species, have mostly belonged to the closely allied Apteryx 

 mantelli of Bartlett, as we shall presently show, though specimens of the true Apteryx 

 australis exist in the British Museum and in several other collections. 



The original bird described by Dr. Shaw is stated by Mr. Bartlett (Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1850, p. 276) to have come from Dusky Bay, in the province of Otago, Middle Island, 

 whence Dr. Mantell's specimen, upon which Mr. Bartlett grounded his observations as 

 to the distinctness of this species from Apteryx mantelli, was also procured. 



Dr. Hochstetter was able to learn nothing of the existence of this Apteryx in the 



' Several other similar eggs have been laid by the same bird since that date. 

 VOL. IV. PART VIII. 3 E 



