﻿Hector. — Fossil Penguin. 341 



neighbourhood, in the hope that by the collection of a few observations (how- 

 ever erroneously iuterpreted) it may to some extent assist and lighten the 

 labour of those whose wisdom and experience enables them to interpret cor- 

 rectly those signs which record the geological history of the later periods. 



Art. LXIII. — On the Remains of a Gigantic Pe^iguin (Palseeudyptes antarc- 

 ticus, Huxley) from the Tertiary Rocks on the West Coast of Nelson. 

 By James Hector, M.D., F.R.S., Director of the New Zealand Geological 

 Survey. 



(With Illustrations.) 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, loth November, 1869.*] 



The fossil remains I have to describe were forwarded to me by Mr. James 

 Duigan, telegraphist at Brighton, a gold field township on the west coast of 

 Nelson province, between the Grey and Buller Bivers. They were discovered 

 by him in a ledge or reef exposed only at low water, and forming part of the 

 Seal Bock, a bold headland which protects the anchorage of Woodpecker Bay. 



With considerable difficulty, owing to the inaccessible position and tough- 

 ness of the rock, he succeeded in extracting the slab in which the bones are 

 imbedded, together with a few other fossils from the same strata. 



The bones are thoroughly mineralized, and resemble the condition in which 

 fossil reptilian bones are usually found, the osseous tissue being completely 

 replaced by calcareous matter of dense close structure and dark brown colour. 



The rock matrix is an impure sandy limestone, having a compact but flaky 

 structure. The skeleton appears to have been complete when imbedded, but 

 has been so crushed and broken that only wing and leg bones can be now 

 identifi.ed and cleared from the matrix. 



The most perfect bones are : — 1. The femur of the right side. 2. Both 

 humeri. 3. Part of left ulna, and metacarpals of each side. 4. Portions of 

 ribs, vertebrae, pelvis, and sternum, all in a very fragmentary state, can be 

 traced on the slab, but no portions of the skull can be recognised. 



The clearing of the matrix from the bones had to be effected with great 

 care, as the fossils are apt to break transversely into splinters, on which 

 account only one surface has been exposed in some cases. 



It was the character of the distal articulation of the humerus, showing 

 enormous strength without much freedom of motion, that led me to recognise 

 this bone as belonging to the wing flipper of a Penguin, (a' and a', PI. 

 XVIIL, figs. 1 and .5.) 



* For grelimiuary notice see Proc. N.Z. Inst., Vol. II., p. 403. The publication lias 

 been delayed for tlie illustrations. 



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