Canterbury and Westland. 447 



individuals of all sizes and ages are lying together closely packed in 

 spots about five to six feet in diameter, whilst all around for some 

 distance not a single bone is found. Moreover all the bones of the indi- 

 viduals perished in that particular spot, are found there together, and I 

 was sometimes enabled to extricate with some care the greater portion 

 of the same skeleton from the closely packed mass of the bones. 

 These nests were consequently very different from the larger deposits, 

 where to all appearance generally only portions of the carcasses had 

 been drifted together. 



It is impossible to give even approximately a number of the indi- 

 viduals, of which the skeletons have been preserved to us in these re- 

 markable turbary deposits. Naturally, we obtained only a very small 

 portion of the bones over that portion examined by me. A great number 

 of them have of course decayed, others have been deposited at so great 

 a depth that they were inaccessible, the turbary deposits being in many 

 localities of such considerable thickness, that although a number of deep 

 drains have been cut, we were not able to reach the lowest layer, 

 usually containing the Moa-bones. However it is certain, that the 

 number of specimens here imbedded must have reached a thousand, if 

 not more. In Yol. I of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 

 I have published a list, giving the numbers of complete sets of leg 

 bones, to all appearance having in each case belonged to the same 

 individual, giving a total of 144 adults, and 27 young birds. This list 

 included Mr. Moore's donations, and the results of my excavations up 

 to the 15th February, 1868. However after that period, the largest 

 excavations yielding most abundant material were undertaken, of which 

 hitherto it has not been possible to draw up a full account. From 

 that former list it appears that Meionornis casuarinus was the most 

 numerous, forming more than a fourth, while M. didiformis represented 

 more than a fifth of the total. They were followed by Palapteryx 

 elephantopus, Euryapteryx gravis, P. crassus, and E. rlieides. The 

 smaller genera of Dinomis proper, such as gracilis, struthioides, together 

 with maximus, robust m, follow next in number, D. ingens being 

 represented only by a few individuals. Although unable at present 

 to give even approximately the number of individuals obtained in the 

 later and more extensive excavations, the proportions of the different 

 species to each other agree in a general way with the published list. 



We obtained of smaller species, during the former and more recent 

 excavations, remains of five to six specimens of Ajjtornis, a few bones 

 of Cnemiornis and of Anas Mnschii, and portions of a skeleton of 



