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altitudes of the Dinomis giganteus, as given by the analogies of the 

 existing Struthionidee, we are compelled to restrict our ideas of its height 

 in the ordinary upright posture to ten feet. 



The Dinomis struthoides, with a femur of eleven inches, a tibia of 

 twenty-two inches, and a tarso-metatarsus of twelve inches in length, 

 must have stood, according to the analogies of the Cassowary, six feet 

 nine inches in height ; according to those of the Ostrich, seven feet four 

 inches : we may therefore regard its height to have not exceeded seven 

 feet, or to have been about equal to that of a moderate-sized Ostrich, 

 but of a more robust and stronger build. The fragment of the femur 

 first described by me in 1839 belongs to this species. 



The Dinomis didiformis, with a tibia as long as that of the Cassowary, 

 viz. sixteen inches, but with a femur of eight inches and a tarso-meta- 

 tarsus of only seven inches in length, would, by the analogy of the 

 Cassowary, be a little under four feet in height, or of intermediate size 

 between the Cassowary and the Dodo. 



The femur of nine inches in length, with similar proportions of the 

 tibia and metatarsus, which latter would probably be relatively longer, 

 gives the height of five feet to the species which, from the similarity of 

 its size to the Emeu (Dromaius ater), I have called Dinomis dromioides. 



The following letter from the Rev. William Williams to the Rev. Dr. 

 Buckland, relates to the bones of the Dinornis described above. 



„ -p. ^- " Poverty Bay, New Zealand, Feb. 28th, 1842. 



" It is about three years ago, on paying a visit to this coast, south 

 of the East Cape, that the natives told me of some extraordinary 

 monster which they said was in existence in an inaccessible cavern on 

 the side of a hill near the river Wairoa ; and they showed me at the 

 same time some fragments of bone taken out of the beds of rivers, 

 which they said belonged to this creature, to which they gave the 

 name of ' Moa.' When I came to reside in this neighbourhood I 

 heard the same story a little enlarged, for it was said that the creature 

 was still existing at the said hill, of which the name is ' Wakapunake,' 



3 B 



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