Auckland Institute. 427 
Tarp Mrretinc. 16th August, 1875. 
T. Heale in the chair. 
New Members.—J. T. Boylan, F. D. Fenton, P. Herapath, D. M‘Indoe, 
W. W. Taylor. 
The Chairman drew the attention of the meeting to the valuable library 
bequeathed to the Institute by the late Mr. G. F. Edmonstone, consisting 
of 550 volumes, mostly relating to various branches of physical science. 
Mr. Edmonstone had not long been a member of the Institute, and his 
thoughtful consideration for them should not be easily forgotten. 
PAPERS. 
1. “Notice of the discovery of Moa Remains at Ellerslie, near Auck- 
land,’’ by T. F'. Cheeseman, F.L.S. 
Mr. Cheeseman remarked that he had visited the cave at Ellerslie, and 
had explored it carefully, and gave a description of its position and size, 
the whole length of the two unequal compartments into which it was 
divided being 98 feet, and its height in no place exceeding eight feet, the 
floor being composed of basaltic lava. The Moa bones, all more or less 
decayed, were found only in the smaller compartment, and that, prior to 
this discovery, he was not aware of any Moa bones having been found or 
known to exist north of Raglan and the Upper Waikato. 
The author stated that some time ago Dr. Alder Fisher informed him 
that he had seen Moa bones in a small cave near the Ellerslie race-course, 
and at his request he had made an exploration of the cave in question. A 
considerable number of Moa bones were obtained, but in such a bad state 
of preservation as to be useless for scientific purposes. Hardly any perfect 
examples were seen. Human bones were found in the same cave, and a 
considerable number in an adjacent one, but were evidently much more 
recent than those of the Moa. 
Mr. H. A. H. Monro said that it was surprising to him to hear it stated 
that the Maoris knew nothing of the Moa. Not only was there the evidence 
of the numerous derivative words in their language, but they had distinct 
traditions of it, and could relate how their forefathers attacked and captured 
it, and how the Moa defended itself. In fact, it appeared to him that there 
was an overwhelming amount of evidence in favour of the supposition that 
the Moa had been exterminated by the Maori at a not very distant period 
of time. . 
9. “Notes on the Sword Fish, Ziphias gladius,” by T. F. Cheeseman, 
F.L.S. (See Transactions, page 219.) 
Various portions of the skeleton, both of this species and of the allied 
Histiophorus herschelli, were exhibited from the Museum collections. 
3. “Remarks on the Pselaphide of New Zealand,” by Captain T. Brown. 
(See Transactions, page 271.) 
