244 
November 14, 1854. 
John Gould, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair. 
The following papers were read :— 
1. On THE Bones or THE Lec or Dinornis (PALAPTERYX) 
STRUTHIOIDES AND THE PALAPTERYX GRACILIS. 
By Pror. Owen, F.R.S., F.Z.S. erc. 
In my memoir of 1843*, I described two femora of birds from 
tertiary deposits in New Zealand, agreeing in size with that bone in 
the Ostrich, and referred them to a species called Dinornis struthi- 
oides ; one of these specimens however consisted only of the shaft ; 
the other and more perfect specimen, figured in pl. 21. fig. 3, was 
mutilated at both its extremities. I have since received, through 
the kindness of the Rev. Mr. Colenso, M.A.+, and the Rev. William 
Cotton, M.A., three entire specimens of femora, ranging between 
11 and 12 inches in length, and the shaft of a fourth specimen, of 
the same species, confirming very satisfactorily that species, and com- 
pleting our knowledge of the anatomical characters of the bone. 
The head is rather more than a hemisphere, more prominent than 
in the Ostrich, and with a smaller proportion cut off, as it were, from 
the upper and outer part, and roughened for the attachment of the 
strong ‘ligamentum rotundum.’ From the upper part of the base 
of the head, an almost flat, slightly concave surface ascends, expand- 
ing, as it rises, to the broad semicircular ridge which crowns the great 
trochanter. In the Ostrich that process does not rise beyond the 
level of the head of the bone. In the Din. struthioides the upper 
trochanterian platform is broader proportionally than in the Din. 
casuarinust. The anterior surface of the trochanter is also extensive 
through the continuation outwards of the great process: it is slightly 
concave, sculptured by muscular impressions with intervening ridges, 
and by a defined oval rough tract between the head and the base of 
the trochanter. The outer convex expanded surface of the trochanter 
is more strongly marked by the insertions of powerful tendons, 
surrounding an irregular smooth tract near the centre of the surface. 
The back part of the upper end of the femur in two of the specimens 
presents two or three small holes leading into the superficial can- 
eelli, by which it is possible a little air may have been admitted to 
these cavities ; but this is a very feeble representation of the wide 
orifice and canal at the same part of the Ostrich’s femur which con- 
ducts directly to the large air cavity in the body of that bone. 
The shaft of the entire femur of the Din. struthioides repeats the 
characters described and figured in the memoir above cited. The 
fore-part of the external condyle begins to rise from the level of the 
* Zool. Trans. vol. iii. pp. 247, 249. pl. 21. fig. 3. 
{ The specimen contributed by this gentleman is cited in the table of admea- 
surements. Zool. Traus. vol. iii. p. 329. 
$ lbid. pl. 46. fig. 2. 
