﻿92 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



coveted obsidian without fear of being devoured by the more savage tribes 

 inhabiting it. Such a case seems to be improbable. I regret very much, and 

 every lover of science will agree with me, that Mr. Mantell has not allowed 

 the publication of his lecture in extenso, as, no doubt, much valuable informa- 

 tion and sound speculation would have been placed before us. I have been 

 told that the present i-ace inhabiting New Zealand must have been co-tempo- 

 raneous with the Dinornis, becaxxse the word Moa forms part of the designation 

 of several localities in ISTew Zealand, but this occurrence might be explained 

 in several ways. In the first instance, it is very possible that the word Moa 

 in those names is only the alteration of another word in course of time, 

 because words having the same, or nearly the same sound, are not unfrequent 

 in the Maori language, such as moa, a bed in a garden, a certain stone ; moana, 

 sea ; moa ia, to be early ; moe, sleep or dream ; moho, a bird ; mou, for thee ; 

 or m,oua, the back of the neck ;* or that the natives used the expression to 

 designate localities where moa bones were principally found. Another 

 exjDlanation might be given by pointing out that the word Moa is used in 

 connection with other birds. Thus I may quote from the Rev. Hichard 

 Taylor's "A Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand," Wellington, 

 1848, the following expressions : — Moa kerua — a black bird with I'ed bill and 

 feet j a fresh water bird ; a water hen. Moa koru — very small rail. Moeriki 

 — rail of the Chatham Islands. And may we not therefore conclude that if 

 the Maoris had known anything of the Dinornis, the present representative of 

 the genus, which, in appearance, form, and plumage, most probably closely 

 resembles some of the extinct gigantic forms, would have in preference been 

 named by them Moa-iti, or some similar appellation, instead of calling the 

 Apteryx, Owenii kiwi, from its peculiar call ; and the Apteryx Australis, 

 Tokoeka and Roa ? The fact that they added instead to the names of birds, 

 resembling somewhat the domestic fowl, the prefix moa, might be taken as an 

 additional confirmation of the probability that the theories advanced by me 

 are correct. And how can we reconcile the difference in the statements con- 

 cerning the plumage, which, according to one account, consisted of magnificent 

 plumes on head and tail, whilst, according to the other, it resembled that of 

 the Apteryx 1 Another point of importance must strike the observer, concerning 

 Maori nomenclature. If the present race had known anything of the Dinornis 

 should we not expect that several and very distinct names would have been 

 preserved to us for the different species 1 We may safely presume that the 

 moa-hunting races had different names for the huge Dinornis giganteus, 

 rohustus, and for Palapteryx ingens, for the smaller and more slender sj^ecies 

 of Dinornis casuarinus and didiforinis, as well as for the stout-set Dinornis 

 elephanlopus and crassus ; which, moi'eover, were doubtless distinguished by 



* Williams' Maori Dictionary, Loudon, 1852. 



