HuTTON. — On the Dimensions of Dinornis Bones. 275 



(Trans. Zool. Soc, VIII., p. 371), and I have given under each heading the 

 number of bones measured, the maximum and minimum measurements, and 

 the mean of the whole, and it will be seen that I have arranged them under 

 nine different species and two varieties. 



Of these the remains of D. rohustus and D. ingens were too few to 

 warrant any certain conclusions, but they appear to be distinct species. 

 D. strutJiioides, which was much more common than the other two, is very 

 distinct and easily recognised from any other. I refer five metatarsi to D. 

 rheides, but I was unable to find in the whole collection a single femur small 

 enough to answer to Professor Owen's dimensions. 



The bones that I have arranged under the name D. didiformis belong 

 probably to a new species. The tibia is well marked and quite distinct, but 

 the femur and metatarsus that I have associated with it pass almost into 

 D. casuarinus, but are rather smaller. 



D. casuarinus is undoubtedly a good species, easily distinguished by its 

 tibia j but I suspect that some of the metatarsi arranged under D. crassus 

 may belong to it. At any rate it is difficult to separate the metatarsi of these 

 two species. The Otago Museum possesses a specimen of D. casuarinus, got 

 at the old Botanical Gardens, Dunedin (see Hector, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, 

 p. 749), which is nearly complete except the skull and right metatarsus, and 

 there is no doubt but that all the bones belonged to the same individual. The 

 dimensions of the leg-bones are as follows : — 





Metatarsus. 



Tibia. 



Femur. 



Length 



7-9 



18-0 



10-3 



Circumference at middle 



4-6 



4-2 



5-4 



Breadth, distal 



3-1 



2-45 



4-4 



„ middle 



1-7 







Thickness „ 



0-9 







Breadth, proximal ... 



3-7 



5-15 



3-5 



In this case the metatarsus and tibia come under the head of D. casuarinus, 

 but the femur would be referred to D. gravis. 



D. gravis also appears to me to be a good species, although the tibia 

 approaches very closely to that of D. casuarinus, but is more robust, the length 

 being only about three and a half times the circumference of the middle of 

 the shaft, while in D. casuarinus it is more than four times the circumference.* 

 In the swamp at Hamilton the bones were so confusedly mixed together that 

 in the whole collection I have only two leg-bones that I am absolutely certain 

 belonged to the same bird. They belong, I consider, to B. gravis, although 

 larger than those figured by Professor Owen. Their dimensions are as 

 follows : — 



* The measurements, however, given by Dr. Haast (Trans. IST. Z. Inst., I., p. 86, 

 No. 13) of bones found in situ in the Glenmark swamp, appear to connect D. gravis 

 with D. crassus. For while the metatarsus would belong to the former, the tibia and 

 femur must be referred to the latter. 



