894 MR. G. DAWSON ROWLEY ON ^PYORNIS. [NoV. 28, 



minatecl, as in the case of the Moa (Binornis giganteus) in New 

 Zealand." 



It is true that the pieces themselves present a suhfossil appear- 

 ance ; but this condition by no means indicates antiquity in all cases. 

 I know a spring in the Isle of Wight which quickly gives any object 

 a lithological aspect ; and many others there are of the same kind. 

 One thing is certain, the bird does not exist now. M. Grandidier 

 is positive on this head. One most singular circumstance is, that 

 all the seven eggs which I have seen (and I suppose it is the same 

 with the others) were never hatched. I can only account for this 

 on the supposition of their being what the Bechuanas of Africa call 

 (in the case of the Ostrich) "Lesetla," and the Spaniards of South 

 America (in that of the E,hea) " Nuachos," viz. solitary and aban- 

 doned eggs. This habit of the Struthionidce has not been assigned 

 to any satisfactory reason. The j^pyornithidce may have had the 

 same propensity. As regards the size of the largest jEjjyornis and 

 Dinornis, if we compare the dimensions of the ^pyornis egg and 

 that of an Ostrich, (I quote a writer in the ' Field') " bearing in miua 

 that similar solids ai'e to each other in the triplicate ratio of their 

 dimensions, we see that if the egg of the Ostrich measures 6g inches 

 and that of /Epyomis \2^ inches in the direction of their major axes, 

 the size of the latter as compared with the former is (Gg)^ : (\2\y 

 : : 1 : 8." 



In certain cases, I admit, the height and bulk of the bird is not 

 proportioned to the size of the egg. In two very different species 

 (^Quculus eanorus and Apteryx mantelli) they are not so. These 

 are, however, special adaptations of nature, for purposes of her own, 

 which are apparent to every one. In Cuculus the egg has to be 

 hatched by a very small bird. In Apteryx it is necessary to retain 

 the embryo long, as its apterous and defenceless condition requires 

 it to be strong enough to escape danger at once. 



I confidently affirm it to be axiomatic to ornithologists, that large 

 eggs produce large birds. 



But here Professor Owen steps in and takes us out of the region 

 of Oology into the sober scene of comparative anatomy. He com- 

 pared the dimensions of the portions of the right and left metatarsal 

 with the corresponding ones of the Dinornis, and at the same time 

 the fragment of the fibula (casts of these are now before you), and 

 he justly admits that it is hazardous to judge of the entire length of 

 the metatarse from the breadth of the distal end. Strickland ob- 

 serves, in his work upon the Dodo, " No argument as to the general 

 affinities of a doubtful ornithic genus can be drawn from the relative 

 proportions of the tarso-metatarsal, the posterior metatarsal, and the 

 proximal phalanx ; these proportions vary in each genus according 

 as its habits are more or less cursorial, ambulatory, or insessorial." 

 I have not gone over Professor Owen's measurements ; they are, no 

 doubt, correct ; and he says the fibula of ^pyornis is smaller than 

 that of Dinornis, indicating a smaller leg-bone than the latter. This 

 is so. But more ample experience of these eggs leads me to suppose 

 that there were not only two species of Mpyornithidcs, but several ; 



