214 



CAPT. F. W. HFTTOK 0:N" TRE 



In the first place the occurrence of the bones of Apteryx, as well 

 as those of the water-loving Sphenodon and the land shell TTialassia 

 ohnuhila, with bones of the Moa at Hamilton, prove that the dry, 

 treeless, interior region of Otago was at that time covered with 

 forest ; and this is corroborated by some of the trunks of the trees 

 themselves still lying on the sides of the moiintains. Secondly the 

 extraordinary agglomeration of Moa-bones in the peat-mosses at 

 Glenmark, Hamilton, and other localities, where hardly even two 

 toe-bones were found in their proper places, can only be accounted 

 for by supposing that heavy floods swept these bones up and 

 deposited them in the low ground. And thirdly, the silt of iSTorthern 

 Otago and Canterbury, usually unfossiliferous but sometimes con- 

 taining Moa-bones and only stratified at its base, seems to imply 

 heavy and often recurring floods washing away the fine mud left by 

 the retreat of the glaciers during subsidence and its rapid deposition 

 in the sea. 



Recent Period. 



It is only in seolian or fluviatile deposits of this age that we find 

 traces of man. Sand dunes are well developed in many places round 

 the coasts of ]^ew Zealand. Between Manukau Harbour and Port 

 Waikato they form hills 500 or 600 feet in height, the sands being 

 often cemented into hard rock by iron-oxide derived from the black 

 iron-sand. 



A very complete list of the localities where Moa-bones have been 

 found, whether in peat-mosses, sand-dunes, or caves, has been given 

 by Mr. C. Smith *, to which I can add nothing of importance. J^o 

 less than eighteen species of JDinornis have been found, all of which 

 have been described, more or less fully, by Sir E. Owen. Of these, 

 five are recorded from the IN'orth Island only, and nine from the 

 South Island only ; while four are common to both islands. The 

 following table shows their distribution. I have divided them into 

 four subgenera. 



Distribution of the Sjpecies of Dinornis. 



Subgenus. North Island. 



1 



Both Islands. 



South Island. 



MoviA (Eeiehen- 

 bach). 



D. giganteus. 

 D. gracilis. 



D. ingens. 



D. struthioides. 



D. maximus. 

 D. altus. 

 D. robustus. 



; Sygrnis (Eeichen- 

 bach). 



D. didiformis. 



D. casuarinus. 

 D. dromioides. 



D. rheideg. 

 D. Huttouii. 



Palapteryx 

 (Owen). 







D. elephantopus. 

 D. crassus. 

 D. gravis. 



Cela (Eeichen- 

 bach). 



D. geranoides. 

 D. curtus. 





D. pygmffius. 



Geological Magazine, ser. 3, voL i. p. 129 (1884). 



