PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE GENUS DINORNIS. 343 



" Enclosing — 



" Photographic copy of drawing of entire skeleton. 



" Photographic copy of drawings of the parts of the skeleton in the state they were 



found. 

 " Photographic copy of sketch of the terrace-formation of the Upper Chetha Valley, 



one of the basins in the interior. 

 " Sketch-section showing the contour of the Manuherikia Valley, where the 



remains were found. 

 "Professor Owen, F.R.S., British Museum." 



The cut, fig. 1, is of the "sketch-section of the contour and formation of the 

 Manuherikia Valley " where the bones were found. The cut, fig. 2, is copied from 

 the photograph of the " terrace-formation of the Upper Chetha Valley, one of the 

 basins in the interior." 



Sketches with admeasurements of the principal bones were also enclosed, indicating 

 a skull in a more perfect condition than the one I had received from Dr. Price, but of 

 similar size; and, as in the case of the skull, the proportions of the femur, tibia, and 

 metatarse resembled those of Dinornis robustus, not those of D. ingens or D. elephantopus. 

 Besides the sternum and the pelvis of the adult skeleton, there were also sketches of 

 parts determinable as moieties of the sternum, an ilium (8 inches 5 lines long), and an 

 ischium with the pubis (about 6 inches long) of immature birds, which led me to infer 

 that the difference of length of the tibia (27 inches), as contrasted with that of 

 32 inches\ might indicate a sexual difference of stature, and that the skeleton from the 

 Manuhirikia Valley was probably that of a female which had perished with her chicks 2. 



Dr. Hector finally informed me that these remains were destined by their owner for 

 the Museum at York, where they safely arrived at the latter end of May of the present 

 year. Mr. Thomas Allis, F.L.S., brought som%of the bones to London, and kindly 

 submitted them to my inspection, from which I was confirmed in my opinion as to the 

 species. These bones, with photographs of others of the same collection, were exhi- 

 bited by him to the Linnean Society, June 16th, 1864^, accompanied by some observa- 

 tions ; among the more interesting of which was the announcement of his discovery 

 of the " rudimentary wing-bone, for which he had before sought in vain" (' Proceedings,' 

 p. 52), and v^hich had been long a subject in much request by myself. Mr. AlUs, also 



' "On DiNORNis" (Part Tii.), Zool. Trans, vol. iv. p. 151 : this is the length of tibia of Dinomis robustus 

 as compared with that (24 inches) of Dinornis elephantopus. 



^ The experienced ornithologist, Dr. P. L. Sclater, suggested, in the discussion following the reading of 

 this paper, that, as in the majority of the Struthious birds the male, and not the female, has been observed to 

 incubate, the bones of the Dinornis there described might be those of a male. I am not aware that this part of 

 the economy of the Kivi has been determined : if the male of the Apteryx rears the young, a similar conclusion 

 as to Dinornis would be as safe a one as can be deduced from analogy. 



^ See 'Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society' (Sept. 3), vol. viii. p. 50. 



