924 ADDENDA. 



The bones collected by my son amount to upwards of 700, belonging 

 to various parts of tlie skeleton, and to several species of Moa. He 

 informs me, that among them are portions of skulls and mandibles : 

 the latter will be a highly interesting addition to our knowledge of 

 the osteology of these colossal bipeds, for no vestiges of these bones 

 have been sent to England. The specimens were shipped to Sydney 

 in April last, but have not yet arrived. 



My son could obtain no further information from the natives, as to 

 the probability that any species of these struthious birds, except the 

 Apteryx (ante, p. 128), are still in existence. From the fresh appear- 

 ance of many of the bone3 and egg-shells, it is however evident, that 

 this noble race of birds inhabited New Zealand at no very remote 

 period. 



Fossil Beaver (see ante, p. 154). — Some bones, teeth, and a skull 

 with the lower jaw, of a gigantic beaver, have recently been found in 

 North America, in the alluvium that contains the remains of the 

 Mastodons. It appears to be nearly allied to the Trogontheriwn, found 

 in the mammoth deposits of Siberia. The original is estimated at 

 twice the size of the common Castor, or five feet in length. An inte- 

 resting memoir of these fossils, with admirable lithographs, is pub- 

 lished in the Boston Journal of Natural History for 1846; by Dr. 

 Jefferies Wyman. 



Skull of the Zeuglodon (see ante, p. 281). — A skull of this extinct 

 cetaceous animal of the eocene strata of North America, has recently 

 been discovered near Charleston, and is described in the American 

 Journal of Science for September, 1847. The occiput, with its double 

 condyle, is preserved. It belonged to a very young animal, the entire 

 length being only fifteen inches. The correctness of Professor Owen's 

 determination of the natural affinities of the Zeuglodon, is thus placed 

 beyond all doubt. 



