Zoological Society. 3401 



have served as an egg-cup for it. The fragments of the egg of Dinomis or Palap- 

 teryx — of what species, of course, cannot be determined — show, after arriving approxi- 

 mative^ at their size by the curve of the fragments, that the shell was not only 

 absolutely thinner, but relatively much thinner than in the ostrich, and a fortiori than 

 in the iEpvornis. The air-pores, also, have a different form, being linear, not rounded, 

 and the external surface is smoother. In the smoothness and thinness of the shell 

 the egg of the Dinomis resembles that of the Apteryx. In the thickness of the shell, 

 and the comparative roughness of its exterior, the egg of the iEpyornis more resembles 

 that of the ostrich and cassowary. Such colour — a dull greyish yellow, as the originals 

 of the eggs of the iEpyornis now at Paris show — may well have been derived from the 

 recent alluvial soil in which it is stated that they were discovered ; the darker stain on 

 one part of the circumference of the larger egg seems to have been due to some acci- 

 dental circumstance. Most probably they were originally white, like the eggs of the 

 ostrich and like the fragments of the eggs of the Dinornis; whether an original green 

 tint, like that of the egg of the emu and cassowary, would be wholly discharged by 

 long continuance in the soil, may be a question. It is most probable that the entire 

 eggs of the iEpyornis were excluded in the usual fertile state, but had suffered such 

 want or interruption of the heat requisite for their incubation as to have become 

 addled. 



How hazardous it is to judge of the size of a bird by that of its egg would appear, 

 Professor Owen observed, by the remarks which he should next proceed to offer on the 

 eggs of the Apteryx. Of these the Professor exhibited one entire specimen, and a 

 nearly fully incubated chick from a secoud egg, both of which have been most liberally 

 transmitted to him by the Rev. William Cotton, M.A., from the North Island of New 

 Zealand. Had it not been for the demonstration afforded by the chick itself, it might 

 well have been doubted whether so small a bird could have excluded so large an egg. 

 The following are the dimensions of the egg: — 



EGG OF APTERYX. 



feet in. lines. 



Greatest longitudinal circumference 10 9 



Greatest transverse circumference 10 



Length 4 10 



Breadth 3 2 



The egg presents the usual long oval form ; the colour a dull dirty grayish white ; 

 but this is partly due to grease-stains, from the decomposition of an incompletely- 

 hatched chick, with its yolk, within. Viewed under a moderately magnifying power, 

 the surface presents a very fine fibrous or spicular character, the raised lines, like 

 spiculae, crossing in opposite directions, with air-pores scattered here and there, 

 and barely perceptible to the naked eye. The shell is not more than one-eighth 

 of a line in thickness. Supposing, as is most probable from a comparison of the 

 bones, that the JEpyomis did not equal in size the Dinornis giganteus, then the egg 

 of the iEpyornis would be smaller in proportion to the bird than the egg of the 

 Apteryx is. 



The embryo Apteryx, which had been removed from its shell, had nearly reached 

 the term of its incubation, the yolk-bag being reduced to a hernia-like appendage of 

 an inch in length and half an inch in breadth. The whole body was clothed by down- 

 fascicles, presenting the appearance of moderately thick cylindrical hairs, one inch 

 and a half in length, with a smooth unbroken exterior, gradually tapering to"a fine 

 X. N 



