226 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2, 
experimentum crucis of the Cuvierian philosophy,—I would unhesi- 
tatingly adduce the interpretation of this fragment of bone. I know 
not among all the marvels which paleontology has revealed to us, 
a more brilliant example of successful philosophical induction—the 
felicitous prediction of genius enlightened by profound scientific 
knowledge. 
The specimen was put into Professor Owen’s hands for examina- 
tion, with the statement “that it was found in New Zealand, where 
the natives have a tradition that it belonged to a bird of the Eagle 
kind which had become extinct, and to which they gave the name 
of Movie; and from this mere fragment, and with this meagre 
history, the Hunterian professor arrived at the conclusion, “that 
there existed, and perhaps still exists in those distant islands, a 
race of struthious birds of larger and more colossal stature than the 
Ostrich or any other known species.”” This inference was based on 
the peculiar character of the cancellated structure of the bone, which 
differs from that of mammalia, and most closely resembles that of 
the Ostrich. And so confident was Professor Owen of the sound- 
ness of his inductions, that he boldly added, “so far as my skill in 
interpreting an osseous fragment may be credited, I am willing to 
risk the reputation for it on this statement; and he further re- 
marks, ‘‘'The discovery of a relic of a large struthious bird in New 
Zealand is one of peculiar interest, on account of the remarkable 
character of the existing fauna of those islands, which still includes 
one of the most extraordinary and anomalous genera of the struthious 
order, the Apteryx; and because of the close analogy which the 
event indicated by the present relic offers to the extinction of the 
Dodo of the island of the Mauritius. So far as a judgement can be 
formed of a single fragment, it seems probable that the colossal bird 
of New Zealand, if it prove to be extinct, presented proportions more 
nearly resembling those of the Dodo, than of any of the existing 
Strutiionide.” In 1843 the correctness of these views was con- 
firmed in every essential particular by a large collection of bones 
obtained by the Rev. W. Williams and transmitted to the Dean of 
Westminster; and still further corroborated by another interesting 
series brought to England in 1846 by Percy Earl, Esq.; and by the 
collection which forms the immediate subject of this communication. 
My eldest son, who went to New Zealand in 1839, and settled at 
Wellington, in one of his earliest letters to me after his arrival, men- 
tioned that a tradition was prevalent among the Maories or natives, 
that gigantic birds, taller than a man, were formerly abundant 
throughout the islands; and that some of the oldest of the natives 
averred that they had seen such birds; and that although much re- 
duced in numbers, some of the race still existed in the unfrequented 
and inaccessible parts of the country. They called these birds Moa, 
and affirmed in proof of their statement, that enormous bones were 
occasionally met with in the mud and silt of the streams and rivers ; 
but my son was unable te obtain any of the bones in question. 
Upon learning from me of the discovery of the bone described by 
Professor Owen, he endeavoured to obtain further information on 
—— ae ee ee ee ee ee 
