448 Geology of 



Harpagomis assimilis. Of species still living in New Zealand,. 

 Apteryx australis and Oweni and Nestor, were represented by 

 several individuals, together with a few bones of several of our 

 aquatic birds, and a lower jaw of Sphenodon punctatum. 



Opposite to these large turbary deposits on the right bank of Grlen- 

 mark Creek a small water-course joins the latter, the banks of which 

 for some hundred yards above its junction consist also of similar turbary 

 beds, in the average 50 feet wide. In draining this creek it was found 

 that these beds were of a depth of 8 to 12 feet, their lower portion being 

 lar^elv mixed with drift timber, and containing also a very considerable 

 number of Moa-bones. The excavations in this locality gave also 

 splendid results, and the same proportions as to the frequency of the- 

 different genera and species observed on the other side obtained also 

 here. However the most remarkable discovery made consisted of the 

 bones of Harpagomis Moorii, so named in honour of Mr G-. H. Moore, 

 the owner of Grlemnark, proving that contemporaneous with the Moaa 

 huge bird of prey existed closely allied to Circus and doubtles's acting 

 as scavenger, if not feeding on the young and enfeebled old birds. 



Professor Owen in his XXI Memoir on Dinornis quotes Professor 

 Cocchi's opinion that Dinornis crassus, elephant opus, giganteus (var. 

 rohustus) and Dinornis ingens belong to the neolithic or recent period, 

 while at the same time that illustrious English comparative anatomist 

 thinks, " that certain remains from the flutiatile deposits in the North 

 Island representing the species Dinornis giganteus, ingens, strutliioides,. 

 and did if or mis, of a heavier and less recent character than the bones 

 from the South Island, have come from birds which lived in post- 

 pliocene, quaternary, or even earlier times." 



The turbary deposits of" the South Island being so very rich in 

 Moa-bones, it has been found far easier, and more expedient to send 

 to England large collections made amongst them, than from the 

 glacier or older fluviatile deposits. The bones found in the latter 

 two deposits in this island are in the same if not sometimes 

 more fossil condition, than those from the Northern Island, col- 

 lected in similar beds. I have examined a whole series of Moa- 

 bones from the Northern Island, obtained from sand-hills, kitchen 

 middens and turbary deposits. They are quite similar in preservation 

 to those collected in this Island from beds of the same character. 

 The Grlenruark sections, better than any other with which I am 

 acquainted, show clearly that all the species of our Dinornithid<s have 





