﻿88 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



The fact that the vertebrae and other smaller bones, such as costals and 

 intercostals, were quite uninjured, and that I never found any sign of gnawing 

 on any of them^ either large or small, would imply that the dog was not 

 domesticated by the moa-hunters, but lived in a feral state, and was hunted by 

 them like the Moa. Several of the skulls of D. casuarinus and one of D. 

 didifo7-?ms were obtained, some of them in a very fragmentary condition, and 

 each of them having been scooped out from below to obtain the brains. Of 

 minor bones were collected the upper and lower mandibles, tympanic bones, 

 and tracheal rings of most of the species named, which, with the rest are now 

 exhibited in the Canterbury Museum ; also a good selection of moa stones 

 could be made, consisting either of pebbles of quartz, agate, etc., such as we 

 obtain in the Malvern Hills, or of silicious sandstone, and of chert. It was in 

 vain that we searched for egg-shells ; if once existing, they must have decayed. 

 Of the bones of smaller birds we were able to distinguish those of the New 

 Zealand Rail (Rallus pectoralisj, the Black-backed Gull (Larus dominicanus), 

 the Swamp Hen (Porphyria melanotus), the Mollymawk ( Diomedea niela- 

 nophrys), and the Godwit (Limosa uropygialis). Apteryx bones were missing, 

 but this may be easily explained by the distance of timber-covered country 

 from the encampment ; but a more striking feature is the total absence of 

 bones of the Weka (Ocydromus Australis), which is at present found all over 

 the island. Could this bird have been confined during the Dinornis era to 

 the forest region, kept there by the attacks made by the large birds upon it 1 

 Another interesting fact is the frequent occurrence of tympanic bones of whales; 

 there is, however, not a single specimen amongst them belonging to the 

 Caprerea anti2)odaru'ni, nor of any of the other large right whales visiting the 

 coast of New Zealand ; all the specimens belong to smaller species, such as 

 Berardlus Arnuxii, etc. These bones are mostly in a frtigmeutary state, having 

 been broken in such a way that the interior cavity or lower surface remains 

 intact. It is difficult to understand why these bones, of which we picked up 

 more than a dozen, should have been collected and brought up to the encamp- 

 ment ; they could not have been used for ornaments, as they are always 

 broken too unevenly for such pui-pose ; or can they have been used for drinking 

 cups or ladles 1 Some of the pieces were charred. There were also a few 

 pieces of larger bones, belonging to the skeletons of cetaceans of the smaller 

 dimensions. Seals must have formed also a favourite article of food, as many 

 bones, belonging to at least two species, are found frequently in the kitchen- 

 middens. 



The dog is also represented in these refuse heaps. We obtained parts of a 

 few lower jaws, belonging to several individuals, some vertehrce, part of the 

 2)elvis, sternum and of the skull. It was of tLe size of a shepherd's dog, the 

 canine tooth longer and more slender in comparison with the other teeth than 

 is generally the case with the present varieties of the same size. These remains 



