336 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 27, 



Although bones of various species of Moa, especially of the most 

 gigantic kind, have been collected in considerable numbers and in 

 great perfection from this locality, yet as the bed is rapidly diminishing 

 from the encroachments of the sea, there is reason to fear that it will be 

 entirely washed away, without yielding to the palseontologist all the 

 desired information respecting the extinct animals whose relics it en- 

 shrines ; for the Maoris or natives, and whalers, are well-aware of the 

 interest attached to the bones by the Europeans, and they seize indiscri- 

 minately on any specimen that the receding tide may render visible ; 

 and if the bone cannot be readily extracted, what is exposed is brojcen 

 off, and perhaps a most valuable relic destroyed, or mutilated and de- 

 prived of its most important characters. Their cupidity and avarice 

 have too been so much excited by the large rewards given by casual 

 visitors, that the cost of specimens has increased to an unreasonable 

 amount. A residence near the spot, and diligent daily search, are 

 required to ensure the acquisition of any connected portions of the 

 skeleton of the same individual. An earnest of the treasures that 

 might be obtained is afforded by the entire suite of bones composing 

 the legs and feet of the same bird, which are now before us. " This 

 pair of perfect feet," my son observes, "were discovered standing erect 

 and about a yard apart, with the proximal epiphyses of the two tarso- 

 metatarsals just visible above the soil. 



Fig. 10. — Position of the Moa's Feet in the Morass at WaiJtouaiti. 



" Upon the retiring of the tide, they were, fortunately, espied by 

 'Tommy Chaseland,' the best whaler in the island, who carefully 

 dug them up. I examined the holes whence they were extracted, 



lated edges, and that each layer has a thickness of from the 5000th to the 6000th 

 of an inch ; they may be seen equally well both in a longitudinal and transverse 

 section of a large bone. In the latter section, the Haversian systems are very di- 

 stinctly and strongly marked, and the outer laminae may be readily distinguished 

 from the inter-systemic layers of bone by the well-defined and uniform laminae 

 of the former, and the irregular laminae of the latter, together with the irregular 

 character of the inter-systemic lacunae. The lacunae of the Haversian systems 

 lie sometimes in and sometimes between the laminae, and have a length of about 

 the 1000th, and a breadth of from about the 5000th to the 6000th of an inch ; di- 

 mensions nearly similar to those stated by Mr. Bowerbank as characterizing bird- 

 bone (Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol. iv. page 9). Great num- 

 bers of canaliculi radiate from the lacunae, but the majority of these proceed 

 from the side nearest the Haversian canal and advance through the laminae 

 towards that part. The lacunae of the inter-systemic layer of osseous substance 

 give off relatively fewer and larger canaliculi, which proceed in equal numbers from 

 each part of the circumference, in addition to which, the lacunae are very irregular 

 both in size and form. The canaliculi both of the systemic and inter-systemic la- 

 cunae anastomose very freely, and through the medium of the latter the canahculi 

 of neighbouring Haversian systems are connected. I am not aware that these 

 bones could by their structural characters be distinguished from those of other 

 birds." 



