380 



the Dinornis struthoides, the third species in point of size, indicates that 

 its bulky body was supported by feet calculated to leave impressions 

 nearly as large as those of the Ornithic/miles giganteus. That the toes 

 were as long in proportion to the breadth of the metatarsal bone as in 

 the Ornithichnites, is shown by the two phalanges, Nos. 1589 and 1590, 

 transmitted by Mr. Williams, the description of which has already been 

 given. 



From the foregoing comparison of the bones of the feet in the different 

 species of Dinornis with the impressions left by the ancient extinct birds 

 of the American continent, it must not, therefore, be concluded that these 

 were species of Dinornis. Agreemeut in the size of the foot and number 

 of the toes does not constitute specific or even generic identity in Orni- 

 thology, as the living Emeu, Rhea and Cassowary testify ; and though 

 the discovery of tridactyle terrestrial birds of a size more gigantic even 

 than that indicated by the Ornithichnites giganteus and Ornithichnites 

 ingtfis tends greatly to remove the scepticism with which such evidences 

 of the extinct birds of the Triassic period had been previously received, 

 yet the recognized succession of varying vertebrated forms in the interval 

 between that period to the present forbids the supposition that the same 

 species or genus of birds could have maintained its existence throughout 

 the several great changes which the earth's surface has undergone during 

 that vast lapse of time. 



We see, in fact, how diversified are the few existing forms of Struthio- 

 nida, : almost every species now represents a distinct genus. We know 

 that this order has suffered greater diminution within the historic period 

 than any other in the class of Birds, perhaps than any other in the whole 

 animal kingdom. What, then, may not have been the extent and variety 

 of the wingless terrestrial birds in times anterior to man's dominion over 

 the earth ! 



Already the heretofore recorded number of the Strut hionidaz is doubled 

 by the six species of Dinornis determined or indicated by the specimens 

 now deposited in the Museum ; and both the Maori tradition of the 

 destruction of the ' Moa*' by their ancestors, and the history of the ex- 



* The Maoris or Aborigines of New Zealand called the Dinornis ' Moa' or ' Movie.' 



