174 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. 



I received from my son another most interesting collection of fossil bones (comprising above 

 500 specimens), chiefly obtained i'rom the eastern shores of the Middle Island of New Zealand, 

 when engaged as Government Commissioner for the settlement of native claims. These were 

 dug up from a morass of small extent, lying in a little creek or bay at Waikouaiti, some twenty 

 miles north of Otago. This swamp, which is only visible at low water, is composed of vegetable 

 fibres (apparently of the Phormium tenax\ sand, and animal matter. The bones are of a deep 

 brown colour, and almost as fresh as if recently taken from a tan-pit. Among the specimens 

 are crania and mandibles, and bones of enormous size. The most remarkable are the entire 

 series of phalangeals, and the two tarso-metatarsals, (26 in number,) of the right and left foot of 

 the same individual bird {Dinornis robustus), which were found standing erect, one a yard in 

 advance of the other ; as if the bird had sunk into the mire, and unable to extricate itself, had 

 perished on the spot. These bones were carefully exhumed and numbered seriatim, and are the 

 only instances of the bones of the foot and metatarsus found in natural connexion ; they are, conse- 

 quently, the first certain examples known of the structure of the feet of the colossal birds of 

 New Zealand. The foot of the Moa, to which these bones belonged, must have been 16 inches 

 long, and 18 inches wide; and the height of the bird about ten feet. {See the FrontisjAKce.) 



It would extend this article far beyond the limits assigned to this work, were I to attempt 

 even a cursory account of all the facts and inferences connected with these discoveries. The 

 anatomical and physiological characters of many species and genera will be found in the admirable 

 Memoirs on the Dinornis, Palaptergx, Notornis, &c. by Prof. Owen, in the Transactions of the 

 Zoological Society.' 



From the facts at present known as to the position of the ossiferous deposits of New Zealand, 

 there is reason to conclude that they bear the same relation to the present state of the country, 

 as the alluvial loam and clay containing the bones of mammoths, Irish Elks, &c. to that of Great 

 Britain. I think we may safely infer that at a period geologically recent, but historically 

 very remote, those islands were densely peopled by tribes of ostrich-like birds of species and 

 genera which have long since become extinct ; that many species existed contemporary with 

 the Maories or native human inhabitants, and that the last of the family were exterminated, 

 like the Irish Elk, and the Dodo, by man. If, as the natives afiirm, some of the race still exist 

 in the unfrequented parts of the country, they are probably diminutive species, like the Apteryx 

 or Kivi-Kivi, Avhich is the only living representative known to naturalists, of this once numerous 

 tribe of colossal Struthionidfe. The only fossil osseous remains from New Zealand not referable to 

 birds are bones of two species of Seals, and one femur and a few other bones of a Dog. Associated 

 with the relics of the Dinornis and other extinct genera, and unquestionably coeval with them, 

 are crania, mandibles, and other bones, of the living species of Apteryx, Albatross, Penguin, 

 Notornis, Nestor, Water-hen, &c. 



The fragments of egg-shells of Dinornis, from Eangatapu, belong to three distinct types, 

 each of very large size ; my son, to convey an idea of the magnitude of one egg, of which he 

 dug up a large portion, says, " a gentleman's hat would make a capital egg-cup for it." The 

 markings on the surface of the shells bear a greater resemblance to those on the eggs of the Ehea 

 and Cassowary than of the Ostrich. 



^ I regret to state that the egg-shells, and many highly interesting bones, belonging to unknown genera of birds, from 

 Eangatapu or Waingongoro, in my son's first collection, remain uudescribed. My notes and observations on the geological 

 position of the ossiferous deposits of the North Island of New Zealand, derived from the sketches and letters of Mr. Walter 

 Mantell, are published in the Geological Journal ; those on his collection of fossils from the Middle Island will appear in the 

 same publication in the course of the present year (1850). 



