AVES. 



49 



Rainhardt, Strickland and Melville. " As the Greenland Whale may be called a 

 permanent suckling, the teeth never penetrating the gums, though in youth they 

 are distinctly traceable in the dental groove of the jaws ; as the Proteus is a per- 

 manent tadpole, the Dodo was a permanent nestling, clothed with down instead 

 of feathers, and with the wings and tail so short and feeble, as to be utterly unsub- 

 servient for flight. We cannot form a better idea of it than by imagining a young 

 Duck or Gosling enlarged to the dimensions of a Swan." It was at first believed 

 to belong to the Ostrich tribe, and Professor Owen placed it among the Vultures. 

 It had a strong, predaceous bill hooked at the tip, and the face was covered with 

 naked skin. The nearest living approach to the D. is the Didunculus of the Navi- 

 gator's Islands. Size, 9x5. Price, $1.75. 



No. 185. Didus ineptus. 



Right Foot. From the same locality and Museum. 



Size, 9x3. Price, $1.75. 



No. 186. .iEpiornis maximus, St. Hiiaire. 



Metatarsals and Two Eggs. These 

 remains indicate a three-toed cursorial Bird, 

 which must have stood twelve feet high. They 

 were discovered in 1850, in Madagascar, in allu- 

 vial banks of streams, and belong to the Gar- 

 den of Plants. — Size of the metatarsals, 8x5; 

 of the eggs, 13 x 9 and 12 x 10. One of these 

 eggs is equal to 148 hen's eggs, and will hold 

 two gallons of water. Price of the metatar- 

 sals and one egg with mounting, $4.50 ; of the 

 metatarsals and two eggs with mountings, 

 $8.00. 



No. 187. Palapteryx ingens, Owen. 



Right Metatarsal. This gigantic struthious Bird, now extinct, was, so 

 called from its resemblance to the living Apteryx of New Zealand, although it is 

 more nearly related to the Emeu. According to the calculations of Professor 

 Owen, it stood nine feet high. It is readily distinguished from the Dinornis (with 

 which it was at first confounded) by being tetradactyle, as shown by" a posterior 

 articular depression for connexion with a hind-toe. The Dinornis is three-toed, 

 and has besides an enormously developed occiput. The P. is also characterized by 

 a remarkable development of the organs of smell. From the great width and 

 solidity of the metatarsal, and the form and corresponding size and strength of the 

 phalangeals, it is inferred that the feet of the P. were powerful instruments for 

 scratching, digging and uprooting vegetable substances, which, judging from the 

 structure of the cranium and beak, constituted the chief food of the colossal 

 biped. The P. and Dinornis rivalled in size the Brontozoum of the ancient Con- 

 necticut Valley. This relic of the P. was discovered in the menaccanite-sand de- 

 posit (Pleistocene) at Waingongoro, New Zealand, and is in the British Museum. 



Size, 18x6. Price, $2.00. 



No. 188. Palapteryx ingens, Owen. 

 Right Foot. 

 4 



Size, 21 x 16. Price, $3.50. 



