1850.] MANTELL ON THE GEOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND. 335 



The location of this bed is in a little bay, on the side of the bar of 

 sand that unites the headland called Island Point with the mainland, 

 at the entrance of the river Waikouaiti ; this headland is about three^ 

 quarters of a mile in length, and 150 feet high. 



The above sketch of the coast, and the annexed ground-plan will 

 serve to illustrate the position of this remarkable accumulation of the 

 extinct colossal bipeds of New Zealand. 



This peat or rather flax-swamp, though soft and extremely fetid 

 when fresh, dries into a dark brown friable inodorous mass*. 



A microscopical examination shows that by far the largest portion 

 consists of fibres of Phormium tenaoc ; my son mentions that he 

 sought diligently on the spot for vestiges of feathers and egg-shells, 

 but misuccessfuUy. The appearance and condition of the bones, as 

 exemplified by the specimens, are similar to those presented by the 

 mammalian remains exhumed from our peat bogs and morasses. 

 Most of them have acquired a rich umber colour, and their texture is 

 rendered tough and firm ; even the periosteum is in many instances 

 preservedf. 



* My friend Dr. Gladstone, of University College, has obliged me with the fol- 

 lowing chemical examination of some of this deposit : — 



" This substance is of a very heterogeneous character : it contains — 



" 1st. A hrown marly earth, consisting mainly of alumina which gives off am» 

 monia when heated, becoming at the same time black from the presence of carbo- 

 naceous matter. 



" 2nd. An earth considerably lighter in colour than the preceding, which con- 

 tains lime. It is also impregnated with organic matter. 



** 3rd. Black decomposed woody matter. 



" 4th. Fragments of quartz. 



"5th. Bones. There was a small vertebra of a grayish colour. Below it lay some 

 small bones, or fragments entirely covered up by the earth. These are coloured 

 of a reddish brown, and appear under the microscope to be enclosed in a sort of 

 integument. Upon dissolving out the carbonate and phosphate of lime by means 

 of acid, I found a soft mass remaining which blackened on exposure to heat. It 

 was evidently the animal matter of the bone, and perhaps also some other portion 

 of the animal which had dried upon it. Similar brown fragments were scattered 

 throughout the mass of peat. 



" Since flesh and feathers contain as much as 15 or 16 per cent, of nitrogen, I 

 thought it possible that the peat-bog earth itself might indicate a considerable 

 percentage of that element, if the soft parts of the birds were entombed along with 

 their bones. A portion therefore was dried, the fragments of bone and quartz 

 picked out, and the nitrogen was determined in the usual manner. It yielded 

 however only 0*58 per cent. Now, as ordinary peat contains 2 per cent, or 

 more of nitrogen, nothing favourable to such a view can be drawn from this expe- 

 riment ; but when we consider the large amount of earthy substances mixed up 

 with the carbonaceous matter, it does not, I conceive, militate against the suppo- 

 sition." 



t The shaft of one femur is in a remarkable state of preservation, the internal 

 structure being as distinct as in a recent bone. Mr. Tomes, whose eminent skill 

 in the microscopic investigations of osseous and dentinal organization is well known, 

 obligingly made several sections of this specimen, and also favoured me with the 

 following remarks : — 



** The fragments of bone from the specimens of Dinornis remains, which you 

 have recently received from New Zealand, show with unusual distinctness the cha- 

 racters of birds' bone. 



" The microscope reveals that each Haversian canal is surrounded with from 

 seven to twenty-five well-marked laminae, which have slightly irregular or granu= 



VOL. VI. PART I. 2 B 



