ORDER RATIT^. 



122' 



Richard Owen at a time when the existence of such huge Birds was 

 totally unsuspected, and upon which evidence he founded the type 

 genus. That the Moas, as these Birds are termed by the Maories of 

 New Zealand, have only been exterminated at a comparatively recent 

 date is proved by the occurrence of nearly entire skeletons with the skin 

 and feathers still adhering to them, as well as by fragments of the eggs 

 retaining their original pale-green colour. The largest species is D. 

 maximus, of which the total height was about ten feet, the tibia 

 measuring a yard in length. Another species, D. elefthantopits (fig. 



Fig. 



-Skeleton of Dinornis elephantopus ; from the Pleistocene of New Zealand. 

 Greatly reduced. (After Owen.) 



1 1 15), although not standing more than about six feet in height, was of 

 even more massive construction, the toe-bones almost rivalling those of 

 the elephant in size. The number of species described is very large. 



Suborder 5. Megistanes. — The Emeus and Cassowaries are 

 characterised by certain structural peculiarities in the base of the 

 short cranium ; by the moderately long humerus ; the presence of 

 only one complete digit in the manus, which is furnished with a 

 claw ; the absence of a ventral symphysis in the pubes or ischia ; 



