76 Transactions. —Zoology. 
Amr. XIIL—O» Cnemiornis calcitrans, Owen, showing its Afni y to the 
Lamellirostrate Natatores. By James Hector, M.D., F.R.S. 
Plates X.—XIV.A. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 18th August, 1873.] 
SINCE the discovery of the very interesting specimen of the Moa’s neck with 
well-preserved muscular tissue and integuments in the Earnscleugh cave, in 
the interior of the Province of Otago,* the locality has been visited several 
times, and especially last year by the Hon. Captain Fraser, who obtained, 
besides Moa bones, several belonging to a smaller-sized bird, being part of a 
skeleton most of which had been previously removed by some gold-diggers. 
I recognised these to belong to Cnemiornis calcitrans, of Owen, the only 
difference being that the humerus differed from that described by Professor 
Owent in several important characters.f Besides the humerus were the right 
femur and tarso-metatarsus and the metacarpal bones ; the two former agreeing 
accurately with Professor Owen's description and plates, and the last- 
mentioned being a new addition to the osteology of the bird. The chief 
difference in the humerus from that attributed to this bird by Professor Owen 
is its greater proportional size, it being equal in length to the femur, instead 
of one-ninth less, and in its having a very distinct pneumatic fossa, closed 
by а eribriform bony septum. Im addition, the tuberosity representing the 
pectoral ridge is not so wide, and the proximal articular surface is slightly 
broader and more convex at its middle part than in the typical bone. These 
characters might lead to the surmise that it belonged to a carinate bird, but 
the massiveness of the bone was thought sufficient to disprove this. In order 
to determine this point with some degree of accuracy, I compared the weight 
with the bulk of the same bone in several species of birds, with the following 
results :— 
Weight. Bulk. 
l. Cnemiornis (Earnscleugh cave) “ as 10 244 
2. Weka ( Ocydromus) (non-volant) es с 10 210 
9. Kakapo (Stringops) (non-volant) ... n 10 187 
4. Kaka ( Nestor ) (volant) is эз died 10 131 
5. Hawk ( Hieracidea ) (volant) .. 10 126 
A. small portion of the shaft was iiio теши. por the thickness of the 
bony wall found to be so great that the internal diameter is only two-thirds 
that of the external. 
In consequence of the above divergence of character from the humerus 
described by Professor Owen, I was much interested in obtaining the 
* Trans. N.Z. Inst., IV., 111. + Trans. Zool Soc., V., 399, Pl. 66. 
f Trans. N.Z. Inst., V., 406. 
