DB. J. VON HAA ST ON A NEW SPECIES OF DINORNIS. 181 



APPENDIX. 



Notes on Binornis curtus, Owen. 



As previously observed, the only locality wliere the remains of this rare species have 

 been found in any quantity is at Whangarei, in the far north of the Northern Island, 

 where they have been collected in the kitchen-middens of the aborigines, as well as in 

 the limestone caves, into which the birds probably retired before death overtook them. 



However, the only remains transmitted to me are the three principal leg-bones. 

 Sir Richard Owen, in his table of admeasurements of the bones of the leg of the known 

 species of Binornis {op. cit. p. 356), gives the length of these bones in two specimens, 

 one a little larger than the other, which might be due to difference of sex. 



Femur. 

 For the femur the length of G inches and 5 inches 6 lines is given. The length of 

 the bone from Whangarei ranges from between 6'05 to 6'40 inches, so that we have no 

 femur so small as the smallest in the British Museum. Unfortunately the latter has 

 not been figured. I suspect, however, that it may possibly belong to Binornis oweni. 

 The form of the femur of Binornis curtus is much stouter in all its proportions in 

 comparison to size than that oi Binornis otveni: in a word it is more pachydermal. 



Tibia. 



Sir Richard Owen figures the tibia of Binornis curtus on pi. xxxix. (op. cit.), its 

 length being 11 inches -3 lines, but he also gives the length of another tibia as 11 inches. 

 We possess several specimens having the exact length and proportions of the first- 

 mentioned bone, but a number of them are longer, increasing to a length of 12-10 inches. 

 However, they all agree in every respect with the illustration referred to, and with the 

 description given on p. 133 (op. cit.), so that T need not enlarge upon the subject. 



In comparison with the tibia of Binornis oweni the same observation as to the femur 

 holds good, that of Binornis curtus being proportionately stouter. 



Metatarse. 

 Sir Richard Owen on pi. Ixxxvii. (op. cit.) figures two metatarsi, without, however, 

 informing us whence they were derived. These measure 5 inches and 4 inches 6 lines 

 in length. A comparison of the metatarse of Binornis oweni figured on PI. XXXI. fig. 15 

 (accompanying this memoir) with the smaller metatarse of Binornis curtus figured by 

 Sir Richard Owen on pi. Ixxxvii. fig. 7 (op. cit.) will at once show the difference between 

 these two species. However, I must not omit to state that there ai-e some intermediate 

 forms which are difficult to place, and it is therefore obvious that Binornis curtus and 

 B. oweni are closely allied species, in the same manner, for instance, as Binornis casua- 

 rinus and B. didiformis, both of which I unite into the subgenus Meionornis. 



