Cotenso.—On the Moa. Ti 
blance to those of the cassowary, they gave the name of Moa; the name 
which that giant bird bore in their fathers' land ? 
This conjecture, however, may be much more fully established, on ascer- 
taining the name by which the cassowary is known to the present inhabi- 
tants of the islands of the Indian Sea. 
The ornithology of New Zealand, now that these islands are become a 
British colony, will soon be known; and we may rest assured, that if such 
an animal exists, it cannot much longer remain concealed. And, it is 
further to be hoped, that ere long we shall be able to find somewhat more 
of the fossil remains of the Moa, so as not merely to form in part conjec- 
tural opinions on its size, habits, and affinities, but so as to be well-assured 
of what this prodigious creature really was. 
APPENDIX, I. 
Nore A, page 64. 
The Tuatara is an animal belonging to the Class Reptilia, Order Sauria ; 
but to which of the families composing the same, I cannot, in the absence 
of books of reference, at present determine. It appears to possess characters 
common to Lacertinide and Iguanide, in its having the thin and extensible 
tongue of the former, combined with the undivided one of the latter. It is 
common in some parts of New Zealand, particularly on rocky headlands 
and islets lying off the coast. I have one at present in spirits, which I had 
alive for nearly three of the winter months ; during which time, although I 
repeatedly tried to get it to take some kind of food, I could not succeed. 
From its habits I supposed it to be a hybernating animal. It measured 
nineteen inches in length, had a row of elevated spines (or rather recurved 
seales) nearly the whole length of its back, and appeared a perfectly harm- 
less creature. It was taken, with two others, on Karewa islet, off Tauranga 
harbour, in the Bay of Plenty. The natives speak of another species, 
haying a forked tail! and also assert that a larger species, which inhabits 
swampy places, has been seen six feet in length, and as thick as a man’s 
thigh. The largest, however, that I have ever heard of did not measure 
above two feet in length. 
Norte B, page 65. 
The shells of several species of Haliotis, Ostrea, and other nacrescent 
genera, are commonly used by the natives inhabiting the isles of the South 
Pacific for this purpose. A narrow slip of the shell is firmly fastened to the 
back of the hook, the barb of which is generally concealed by a tuft of 
metallie-surfaced blue feathers, procured either from the Korora (Apteno- 
dytes minor) or the Kotaretare (Dacelo leachii). The hook thus prepared 
