344 



the optic groove ; a feature which, with the large size of the olfactory 

 nerves, indicates a development of the organ of smell approaching that 

 most remarkable one in the Apteryx. Of the other outlets of the cere- 

 bral nerves, those for the ninth pair are alone remarkable for any in- 

 crease beyond the ordinary size. 



The articular depressions for the tympanic or uuadrate bones are im- 

 perforate, eight lines long, from three to four lines wide, bounded exter- 

 nally by a very short angular process. 



The depressions on the occiput for the insertion of the nuchal muscles 

 indicate the force with which they must have habitually operated upon 

 the head ; and the unusual size and depth of the temporal fossae equally 

 indicate the great strength of the gripe of the bill ; such a combination 

 of powerful muscles of the head and the beak accords with the indica- 

 tions which the vertebrae of the neck, and the short and strong metatarsi 

 afford, of habits of scratching and uprooting ferns for food. 



1553. A cervical vertebra of the Dinornis giganteus, Owen. This specimen 

 appears to have come from below the middle of the neck, anterior to 

 those which are distinguished by a median inferior spine. 



The following are its dimensions as compared with the twelfth cervical 

 of a full-sized Ostrich : — 



Dinornis. Struthio. 

 In. Lin. In. Lin. 



Length, at the middle of the terminal articular surfaces .29 2 2 



Breadth, at the middle of the body 16 OS 



Height of the middle of the body 11 8 



Height from anterior base of spine to the lower part of 



the anterior articular surface 18 10 



Length of the neural arch 19 15 



Breadth of ditto 17 11 



Every process and prominence of this vertebra of the Dinornis is 

 broken off, with the exception of the right posterior oblique process. 

 The texture everywhere presents large reticulate cancelli, which commu- 

 nicate with the outer surface by an orifice on each side the neural arch, 

 behind the upper transverse process. 



The body of the vertebra is square-shaped, with a broad and flat, or 



