PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE GENUS DINORNIS. 185 
which have come under my observation. The subjects of figures 8, 9, 10,in Plate XX XI. 
are copied from the illustrations of Mr. Dallas’s excellent description of the débris of 
feathers attached to the dried skin of the specimen of Dinornis robustus in the Museum 
of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society! Figures 7 and 11 are from Dr. Hector’s 
and Captain Hutton’s interesting papers in vol. iv. of the ‘ Transactions of the New- 
Zealand Institute,’ (vol. iv. p. 114, pl. v., and p. 166, pl. ix.). 
With the loose character of the plumage of the Kivi the feathers of the Moa differ 
in having, as a rule, an ‘after-shaft’ (fig. 11, 6) of half the length or more of the main 
feather. 
As to the geological relations of the bones of the Moas, reviewing the whole evidence, 
I concur with the learned Professor Igino Cocchi? in referring Dinornis crassus, D. ele- 
phantopus, D. giganteus (var. robustus), and D. ingens to the “ Periodo attuale,” which 
is equivalent to the ‘neolithic’ or ‘recent period’ of ‘ Ethno-archeology. At the same 
time I think that certain remains from the fluviatile deposits in the North Island, 
representing the species Dinornis giganteus, D. ingens, D. struthioides, and D. didi- 
formis, of a heavier and less recent character than the bones from the South Island, 
have come from birds which lived in ‘postpliocene,’ or quaternary, or even earlier 
times. But all the species seem to have existed and abounded when the present race 
of Maories set foot on New Zealand, and the final extirpation to have been of com- 
paratively recent date. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. 
PLATE XXXII. 
Fig. 1. Base of the skull of Dinornis crassus. 
Fig. 2. Vertical longitudinal section of the sacrum of Dinornis maximus, 4 nat. size. 
Fig. 3. End view of metatarsal sesamoid of the same, } nat. size. 
Fig. 4. Inner side view of ditto, ditto. 
Fig. 5. Outer side view of ditto, ditto. 
Fig. 6. Tibial facet of ditto, ditto. 
Fig. 7. Portion of skin of neck and of feathers of Dinornis ingens (after Hector). 
Fig. 8. Base of a feather, with main and accessory shafts, of the same (after Dallas). 
Fig. 9. Base of feather, with main and accessory shafts, of Dinornis robustus, nat. size 
(after Dallas). 
Fig. 10. Part of a barb, with the barbules of the same, magn. 15 diameters (after 
Dallas). 
Fig. 11. A feather of a species of Dinornis (after Hutton). 
(The figures are of the natural size when not otherwise noted.) 
* Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, March 14, 1865, p. 266. 
* * Cataloghi della collezione centrale Italiana di Paleontologia,’ Svo, Firenze, 1872, p. 63. 
