3400 Zoological Society. 



January 27, 1852. — Professor Bell, F.R.S., in the chair. 



The Secretary exhibited, on the part of Captain Stokes, R.N., the eggs of the 

 Kakapo (Strigops), and of the Weka (Ocydromus), obtained in the Middle Island, New 

 Zealand, during the surveying voyage of H.M.S. Acheron, and now first made known 

 to zoologists. 



Mr. Gould exhibited a remarkable variety of Ocydromus australis, differing from 

 both the specimens of that bird now living in the menagerie of the Society. 



Mr. Lovell Eeeve contributed a paper on some new species of Paludomus, a genus 

 of fresh- water shells, collected in a branch of the Ganges. 



The following paper was read by Professor Owen : — " Notes on the Egg and 

 Young of the Apteryx, and on the casts of the Eggs and certain Bones of iEpyornis." 



The Secretary placed upon the table casts of two eggs, and of portions of the leg- 

 bones of a gigantic bird of the Island of Madagascar, which had been presented by the 

 Administration of the Garden of Plants in Paris, and on these Professor Owen made 

 the following observations. The casts were beautifully made and coloured, and were 

 exact representations of the originals, which the Professor had examined during a visit 

 to Paris in July last. These were received at the Garden of Plants in January last, 

 and were described this day twelvemonth, in a communication made by M. Isidore 

 Geoffroy St. Hilaire to the Academy of Sciences. They had been obtained by the 

 master of a merchantman at the Island of Madagascar in 1850, from the natives, who 

 stated that one of the eggs had been found, entire, in the bed of a torrent, amongst the 

 debris of a land-slip : a second egg, with some fragments of bone, was subsequently 

 found in a formation which is stated to be alluvial ; a third egg, which the natives 

 had perforated at one end, and used as a vessel, was also obtained. This egg was 

 fractured in the carriage, the other two eggs arrived entire. They are nearly of the 

 same size, but differ in shape, one being shorter, but a little thicker, and with more 

 equal ends than the other. The following are admeasurements of these eggs and of 

 an ostrich's egg : — 



JEPYORNIS. 



Greatest circumference. feet. in. lines. 



Lengthwise 2 10 9 



Breadthwise 2 4 3 



Extreme length in a straight line 10 8 



M. Isidore Geoffroy estimates the larger of the two eggs to contain 10£ quarts, oi 

 the contents of nearly 6 eggs of the ostrich, or 16 of the cassowary, or 148 of the hen, 

 or 50,000 eggs of the humming bird. The portions of bones, of which casts were 

 exhibited, consist of the lower end of the right and left metatarsal bones, and the 

 upper end of the right fibula. These are nearly equal in size to the corresponding 

 parts of the skeleton of the Dinornis. From the obvious differences which M. Geoffroy 

 found on comparing these fragments with the casts of the metatarsus of the Dinornis 

 giganteus, he has inferred with much probability not only the specific but generic dis- 

 tinction of the gigantic bird of Madagascar, and has proposed for it the name of 

 iEpyornis maximus. This distinction is illustrated not only by the metatarsal bones 

 but by the eggs themselves. 



Mr. Walter Mantell of Wellington, New Zealand, has recorded his observation of 

 an egg of a Dinornis found in the volcanic sand, of the magnitude of which he en- 

 deavours to give an idea, by stating that his hat would have been but large enough 



OSTRICH. 



feet. 



in. 



Hues. 



1 



6 







1 



4 



6 







6 



4 



