1848.] MANTELL ON FOSSIL REMAINS FROM NEW ZEALAND. 241 
no purpose. Men, women and children resolutely dashed at every 
bone that appeared when the sand was removed; and if they listened for 
a moment to my entreaties and remonstrances, it was but to return 
with renewed vigour to the work of destruction. Although I am of 
a forgiving disposition, yet I cannot but hope Mr. Hawkins will place 
these Maoris in the same category with the Vandals who destroyed 
the Alexandrian library, and the Somersetshire ‘varmint’ who mis- 
took a Cheiroligostinus for a ‘ viery zarp’nt.’ 
“Mixed with the bones, but exceedingly rare, were the fragments 
of egg-shells, of which I sent you my then best specimens by post 
last April. I have also found six oval rings and one broad circular ring 
of the trachea. In coming down from Ngamotu I discovered a few 
more remains of eggs; one fragment is four inches long, and gives a 
good chord by which to estimate the size of the original: as a rough 
guess, I may say that a common hat would have served as an egg-cup 
for it: what a loss for the breakfast-table! And if native traditions 
are worthy of credit, the ladies have cause to mourn the extinction (?) 
of the Dinornis: the long feathers of its crest were by their remote 
ancestors prized above all other ornaments; those of the White 
Crane, which now bear the highest value, were mere pigeons’ feathers 
im comparison.” 
I have given these extracts without correction or comment, as they 
were written by my son for my private information, that I might not 
weaken the graphic description of the exhumation of the bones ex- 
hibited and described at the last meeting of the Society. There are 
still some details required to render it certain that the bone-bed is 
always intercalated, when not laid bare by modern denuding causes, 
between the blue clay with recent marine shells and the conglomerate 
of volcanic pebbles and boulders which forms a bed of from fifty to a 
hundred feet thick ; but so far as I can interpret my son’s meaning, 
and upon comparison of his statements with those of Mr. Colenso 
and others, I conclude that such is its true geological position. There 
is also some doubt whether in the heaps of ancient native fires which 
contain bones of man, dog, and moa, those of the colossal birds may 
not have been introduced by accident, and their charred appear- 
ance have been occasioned by drying, from exposure to the air and 
sun ; but it must be remarked that these specimens never contain any 
of the sand in which they were imbedded, as the other examples do. 
These and other points will, I doubt not, be satisfactorily elucidated 
ere long, now that the collecting of the bones of the extinct birds of 
New Zealand is so earnestly and systematically pursued. In the 
meanwhile, the imperfect and hasty sketches of my son which I have 
placed before the Society, will not, I trust, be deemed altogether 
unworthy attention. 
MOL. EVY.——-PART I. T 
