﻿Hectoe. — On Recent Moa Remains. Ill 



the probable extent of cbange to which tbe egg-shell has been subjected in tbis 

 manner, a fragment was analysed and proved to contain only -9 per cent, of 

 organic matter, while the egg-shell of the Emu contains as mucb as 7 "89 per 

 cent., from which we may infer that the shell of the Moa egg had been almost 

 wholly deprived of its animal matter. 



I haj)pen to have in the Museum an egg of the Emu, also containing the 

 bones of a chick which had reached about the same stage of development, so 

 that I was able to institute some very interesting comparisons. The principal 

 difference in the outward aj^pearance of the bones is, that while the Moa 

 chick bones are of a light brown colour, spongy texture, and adhere to the 

 tongue like baked clay, the Emu chick bones have a dense brittle structure, 

 white colour, and smooth surface that is not porous. The most remarkable 

 feature, however, is the enormous disproportion in the bones of the extremities, 

 while there is very little difference in size between the crania and total relative 

 height. Thus the length of the Moa chick may be estimated at 14-5 inches, 

 and that of the Emu chick at 13 inches; and the weight of the bones of 

 the limbs and joefots in the Moa is 167 grains, while in the Emu chick it is 

 only 40 "5 grains, or in the proportion of four to one. I compared the specific 

 gravity of the bones for the purpose of determining roughly the extent to 

 which those of the Moa chick had been fossilized, and obtained the following 

 results : — 



Moa chick . . . . . sp. gr. of bone 1 -538 



Emu chick 1-577 



Ordinary moa bone ...... 1*700 to 1*979 



We thus find that no marked change had taken place in the density of the 

 bones of the chick, the shell having, no doubt, protected them from the action 

 of the soil. Plate YL, figs. 1 to 4, shows the relative size of the Moa and Emu 

 eggs and chicks reduced to one-third natural size. 



I have now to describe another remarkable specimen from the same district, 

 being the cervical vertebrce of a Moa, apparently of the largest size, upon the 

 posterior aspect of which the skin, partly covered with feathers, is still attached 

 by the shrivelled muscles and ligaments. 



The specimen in question belongs to Dr. Thomson, of Clyde, who obtained 

 it from a gold-miner, and kindly forwarded it to me for description. It was 

 discovei'ed in a cave, or under an overhanging mass of mica schist — the locality 

 being thus described by Dr. Thomson, who has since visited it : — 



" The cave in question lies at the foot of the Obelisk range of hills, and 

 about four miles from its summit. I am unable to give you its proper 

 geographical position, as we had no compass with iis. It is situated at the 

 back of a large rock, which stands about seventy feet high from the ground, 

 and to me it appears to be more a rent and crumbling away of the sides of 

 rocks round about. There are two openings, one of which is immediately 



