194 Bibliography. 



New Salts formed ly the Action of Sulphurous and Nitrous Acids 

 upon the Alkaline Bases, by E. Fremy, (Compt. Rend. June, 1844, 

 p. 1110.) — If a current of sulphurous and nitrous acids be made to pass 

 into a solution containing a considerable quantity of potash, there is 

 immediately deposited long silky crystals of a salt of potash almost 

 insoluble in cold water ; the salt contains a new acid composed of sul- 

 phur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Heat decomposes this salt in a charac- 

 teristic manner, by transforming it into sulphate of potash, ammonia, 

 and a volatile ammoniacal salt. The salts of soda and ammonia are 

 formed in the same way — they are soluble in cold water. These solu- 

 tions when cold are neutral, and are not affected by the salts of baryta 

 or lead ; but if boiled they become strongly acid, from the formation of 

 sulphuric acid, and a salt of ammonia is at the same time produced. 



Art. XIX. — Bibliographical Notices. 



1. On Dinornis, an extinct Genus of tridactyle Struthious Birds, 

 with descriptions of portions of the skeletons of six species, which for- 

 merly existed in New Zealand. By Professor Owen, M. D., F. R. S., 

 Z. S., &c, &c. (PartL) — In this paper of Prof. Owen, which forms 

 about forty pages quarto of the Transactions of the London Zoological 

 Society, with fifteen plates, we have an account of one of the most 

 important zoological discoveries of the present century ; nor is it scarcely 

 less interesting to geology. As our notice of the paper must necessa- 

 rily be brief, we shall direct the attention of our readers to the most 

 interesting points contained in it. 



(1.) The history of the discovery. — Portions of this history have al- 

 ready appeared in several places upon the pages of this Journal. We 

 need here, therefore, give only a condensed summary. 



Several years ago. Prof. Owen received from New Zealand the sin- 

 gle shaft of a femur, six inches long, with both extremities broken off. 

 It did not present the characters of a true fossil, and yet appeared to 

 have been on or in the ground for some time. From an examination of 

 it. Prof. Owen came to the conclusion, that it belonged to a Struthious 

 bird, which was a " heavier and more sluggish species than the Ostrich." 

 This interpretation of this bone was published in the Transactions of 

 the Zoological Society, Vol. Ill, p. 32, and in the Proceedings of that 

 Society for November, 1839 ; and on this evidence alone, he there de- 

 clared himself willing to risk his scientific reputation upon the statement 

 that " there has existed, if there does not now exist in New Zealand, a 

 Struthious bird, nearly, if not quite equal in size to the Ostrich." In 



