168 JJR. JULIUS VON HAAST ON A NEW 



but the orifice is situated on the left femur on the right of the junction. In the 

 Dinornithidse these two ridges generally run at a more oblique angle, so as to approach 

 much sooner, when for some distance they run parallel towards that orifice. There are 

 even some of the smaller species in which the two ridges join much above that orifice, 

 so that it is actually situated upon the ridge itself. 



Below the junction the inner ridge continues, rising well above the shaft, as the so- 

 called tuberosity, to the inner condyle, gradually, however, diminishing in height. 

 One inch below the orifice the outer starts from the inner ridge, only slightly indicated, 

 and reaches the outer condyle in front of the ectocondylar pit. 



In Apteryx this tract, in which the popliteal space is enclosed, is better defined than 

 in Megalapteryx, as the outer line is much more marked, thus more nearly resembling 

 the Dinornithidse. 



A slight ridge starts in Megalapteryx also from the ectotrochanterian tuberosity, 

 bifurcating 3 inches below the upper end of the femur and running towards the 

 condyles; the inner ridge appears the most prominent. They disappear, however, 

 entirely before the condyles are reached. The whole form of that part of the bone 

 closely resembles that of Apteryx. 



The rotular channel is broad and well excavated, but diiFers from that of Apteryx 

 by continuing in equal breadth to the anterior intercondylar ridge, while in Apteryx 

 the condyles on both sides approach towards their lower end, so as to restrict that 

 channel. 



The intercondylar fossae are not, as in Binornis, divided into two depressions, though 

 the inner side is a little more excavated. In form they entirely resemble that of 

 Apteryx. The edge of the postintercondylar ridge is sharper in Megalapteryx and 

 Apteryx than in the Dinornithidae, in which it has a more rounded form. 



In the Dinornithidae the ectocondylar surface is grooved, though the inner or post- 

 intercondylar ridge stands much higher above the groove than the outer. Both in 

 Megalapteryx and Apteryx this groove does not exist, the inner side alone rising above 

 the surface for the articulation of the head of the fibula, without any ridge showing 

 on the outside. This articulating surface, however, is longer in proportion to breadth 

 in Megalapteryx than it is in the Dinornithidae. 



The popliteal space in Megalapteryx resembles also that of Apteryx in all its prin- 

 cipal features, and is not so deeply excavated as in the Dinornithidae. In one word, 

 all the principal characteristic features of the femur of Apteryx, by which it is so 

 distinctly differentiated from the Dinornithidae, are repeated in Megalapteryx, but, 

 owing to its size, are in most instances more pronounced in the extinct genus. 



Phalanges. (Plate XXX. figs. 8 & 9.) 

 One of the phalanges found with the bones (fig. 8) is most probably the first 



