14 



to pig-hunting here. To hunt kiwi is whdkangangahu, and the call is known as whakahini; it is 

 made by whistling with a bent finger in the mouth (korowhiti). The Kiwis reply to the hunter's 

 whistle ; hence he is enabled to locate them. Kiwi are still numerous around Tara-pounamu and 

 the headwaters of the Okahu." 



The late Professor T. Jeffrey Parker, F.B.S., sent me the following interesting notes on 

 Apteryx, which have already appeared in the ' Transactions ' of the New Zealand Institute, 

 vol. xxix., p. 184, but are worth reproducing: — 



I have read your article, 'Illustrations of Darwinism,' with some care, and highly approve of most of it. 

 There are a few criticisms I should like to make. 



The upper mandible (of Apteryx) is a prolongation of precisely the same bone as in other birds— 

 premaxillfe, nasals, &c. The ' cranial pan' is rather exceptionally large in Apteryx. I have often wondered 

 what it wants with such a big brain. 



You are quite right about the extreme specialisation of Apteryx. See my paper on its development : 

 Philosophical Transactions, 1891, summary, p. 116. See also the brief account of the matter in the New 

 Zealand Journal of Science. 



Megalapteryx is not a ' Giant Kiwi,' but a Moa, as Lydekker first showed. 



My observations on the skull of the Dinornithidae (see Proc. Zool. Soc, Feb. 14th, 1893) distinctly 

 contradict your view that the larger forms of Moa are the most ancient. The oldest (least specialised, &c.) 

 type of skull is Mesopteryx (including Casuarinus, Didlnus, &c), while the very tall forms (robustus, 

 giganteus, &c.) and the thick-legged forms (elephantopits and crassus) are highly specialised in different 

 directions. 



Your observations on the numerous species of Apteryx and their distribution are very interesting. 

 What strikes me at once is, what a pity that the skeletons are not properly described ! If you ever have the 

 chance of getting any, I wish you would lend them to me for that purpose. I think I may say without undue 

 vanity that I could monograph the skeletons of Apteryges as well as most men. Unfortunately, it is of little 

 use to begin until one has a good series of well-authenticated specimens of all the species, and I am sorry to 

 say I cannot give the collectors carte blanche. 



I am glad to add that I was able to procure for Professor Parker a specimen in the 

 flesh and two rough skeletons of the giant Kiwi {Apteryx lawryi) from Stewart Island. He had 

 devoted special attention to the anatomy of Apteryx and his remarks, quoted above, are therefore 



valuable. 



In the paper to which Professor Parker refers, I gave reasons for my conclusions that the 

 larger forms are the more ancient, being those that roamed originally over the afterwards 

 submerged continent, and that the smaller-sized Moas, of different genera and species, are the 

 descendants of those which had been specialised in the various islands during the long epoch 

 following the continental submergence. As will be seen, Professor Parker differs with me on this 

 point. I mentioned, in that paper, Captain Hutton's published view that the smaller forms of 

 Katitse in New Zealand must have preceded the larger, but I also quoted from his paper " On the 

 Moas of New Zealand" (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxiv., p. 149) a passage which seemed to show 

 that a difficulty about this existed in his own mind. It was this : " Evidently Anomalopteryx 

 and Palapteryx are the oldest forms ; but if Palapteryx had wings it could not have been derived 

 from the wingless Anomalopteryx, and, if the birds were increasing in size, Anomalopteryx could 

 not have been derived from Palapteryx:' I added, by way of commentary: "Exactly so; but on 

 my hypothesis these difficulties disappear, and the supposed conditions are in harmony with it." 

 It would seem that Captain Hutton — who has studied the subject very closely, and whose opinion 

 is entitled to great respect — has arrived at the same conclusion as myself, for in a very interesting 

 article subsequently communicated by him to the Canterbury ' Press,'* he says : " The commoner 



* ' The Eise and Fall of the Moa,' by Captain Hutton, F.E.S.— The Press, November 2nd, 1896. 



