l78 REPORT — 1861. 



" Roa-roa" of the natives of tlie Southern Island. 



The existence of a larger species of Apteryx in the Middle Island of New 

 Zealand has long ago been affirmed, and though no specimens of this bird 

 have yet reached Europe, the following remarks of Dr. v. Hochstetter seem 

 to leave no reasonable doubt of its actual existence : — 



" Besides 4/^-'V/«^ oiosnii, a second larger species lives on the Middle 

 Island, of vvhich, although no examples have yet reached Europe, the existence 

 is nevertheless quite certain. The natives distinguish this species not as a 

 Kiwi, but as a Roa, because it is larger tlian A. owenii (Roa meaning ' long' 

 or ' tali '). 



"John Rochfort, Provincial Surveyor in Nelson, who returned from an 

 expedition to the western coast of the province while I was staying at Nelson 

 in his Report, which appeared in the 'Nelson Examiner' of August 24th, 

 1859, describes this species, which is said to be by no means uncommon in 

 the Paparoa chain (a wooded range of about 2000 to 3000 feet in elevation 

 between the Grey and Buller Rivers), in tiie following terms : — ' A Kiwi 

 about the size of a Turkey, very powerful, having spurs on his feet, which, 

 when attacked by a dog, defends himself so well as frequently to come off 

 victorious.' 



" My friend Julius Haart, a German, who was my travelling companion in 

 New Zealand, and in the beginning of the year 1860 undertook an exploring 

 expedition to the southern and M-estern parts of the province of Nelson, 

 writes to me in a letter dated July 1860, ten miles above the mouth of 

 the river Buller, on the mountains of the Buller chain (which, at a height of 

 from 3000 to 4000 feet, were at that time — it being winter in New Zealand — 

 slightly covered with snow), that the tracks of a large Kiwi of the size of a 

 Turkey were very common in the snow, and that at night he had often heard 

 the singular cry of this bird, but that, as he had no dog with him, he had 

 not succeeded in getting an example of it. He had, nevertheless, left M'ith 

 some natives in that district a tin can with spirits, and promised them a 

 good reward if they would get him one of these birds in spirits and send 

 it to Nelson by one of the vessels which go from time to time to the west 

 coast." 



In concluding this brief Report, we wish to call attention to the importance 

 of obtaining further knowledge respecting the recent species of this singular 

 form of birds whilst it is yet possible to do so. We see that one of them 

 (the Ajyteryx mantelli) is already fast disappearing, whilst its history, hal)its, 

 mode of nidification, and many other particulars respecting it are as yet 

 altogether unknown. We therefore trust that such members of this Asso- 

 ciation as have friends or correspondents in any part of New Zealand will 

 impress upon them the benefits that they will confer on science by 

 endeavouring to procure more specimens of, and additional information con- 

 cerning, the different species of the genus Apterijx. 



Rejjort of the Results of Deep-sea Dredying in Zetland ; with a Notice 

 of several Species of Mollusca neiv to Science or to the British Isles. 

 By J. GwYN Jeffreys, F.R.S., F.G.S. 

 The Report was submitted by the author, as one of the General Dredging 

 Committee, not so much for the sake of announcing his discovery of new 

 species, as of maintaining certain views which he had ventured to suggest on 



