232 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL Society.  [Feb. 2,- 
before the Zoological Society by Professor Owen; to whom, as.a 
tribute of respect due for his masterly interpretation of the bones 
previously transmitted from New Zealand, I have offered the exami- 
nation and description of every object im the series that he may con- 
sider worthy his attention. 
The specimens amount to between seven and eight hundred, and 
belong to birds of various sizes and periods of growth ; some evidently 
of aged individuals, and others of very young animals, in which the 
epiphyses of the long bones are still distinct from the shaft. They 
were catalogued by my son as follows :— 
Birps’ BonES.—Crania and mandibles, 19; vertebree, 250 ; sterni, 
portions of, 7 ; pelves, more or less complete, 30 ; femora, 37 ; tibiee, 
42; fibule, 35; tarso-metatarsal, 40; phalangeal, 200; ungueal or 
claw-bones, 30; ribs, 30; egg-shells, fragments, 36 specimens. 
SEALS.—Jaws with teeth, portions of crania, vertebree, ribs, sca- 
pule, bones of the extremities. 
TERRESTRIAL MAMMALIA.—One femur. 
The specimens received exceeded the number above specified, and 
with the exception of a few of the most fragile (and unfortunately the 
most precious, as, for example, the mandibles, pelves, sterni), arrived 
in an excellent state of preservation. 
The birds’ bones, so far as they have been hitherto examined by 
Professor Owen, are referable to five genera; the crania and mandi- 
bles of three of which were previously unknown. 
1. Dinornis.—This name is now restricted by Professor Owen to 
the birds which possessed a skull and beaks essentially different 
from any form either recent or fossil. Of this genus there is a nearly 
perfect cranium, with the upper mandible, and portions of two other 
skulls. The form of the cranium, especially of the temporal and 
occipital regions, is wholly unlike any hitherto observed in the class 
of birds, and approaches that of reptiles. It is characterized by the 
nearly vertical occipital plane, the elevated position and form of the 
foramen magnum, and the great development below the occipital con- 
dyle, and the strong ridges which border the basi-occipital, and indi- 
cate a most extraordinary power in the muscles that moved the 
cranium. The temporal fosse are very deep, and are strengthened 
by a prolongation of the mastoid process, which is united to the 
frontal, and forms what may be termed a lateral zygomatic arch. 
The tympanic bone has two distinct cusps for articulation with the 
double condyle of the os quadratum. The configuration of the upper 
mandible or beak (the lower one is unknown) is very peculiar, and 
has been aptly compared by Professor Owen to a cooper’s adze; and 
is considered by him to have been especially adapted for erubbing up 
roots and tubers; and we have evidence, in the powerful muscles 
attached to the occipital region, of its having been an instrument 
capable of being used with great force. There is a portion of the 
articular part of a large lower jaw, that probably belongs to D. gi- 
ganteus. 
To this genus belong many vertebree of enormous size ; ribs, bones 
of the pelvis, and hinder extremities, and some portions of sterni ; 
a 
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