146 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. v. 



to the skeleton of the ox, expecting to verify my 

 first surmise ; but with some resemblance to the 

 shaft of the thigh bone, there were precluding 

 differences ; from the ox's humerus, which also 

 affords the tavern delicacy, the discrepancy of 

 shape was still more marked. Led by the thick- 

 ness of the wall of the marrow cavity, I proceeded 

 to compare the bone with similar sized portions 

 of the skeletons of the various quadrupeds which 

 might have been introduced and have left their 

 remains in New Zealand ; but it was clearly un- 

 conformable with any such portions. In the 

 course of these comparisons I noted certain ob- 

 scure superficial markings on the bones, which 

 recalled to mind similar ones which I had 

 observed on' the surface of the long bones in 

 some large birds. Thereupon I proceeded with 

 it to the skeleton of the ostrich. The bone 

 tallied in point of size with the shaft of the thigh- 

 bone, but was markedly different in shape. 



4 There were, however, the same superficial 

 reticulate impressions on the ostrich's femur 

 which had caught my attention in the exhaustive 

 comparison previously made with the mammalian 

 bones. 



' In short, stimulated to a more minute and 

 extended examination, I arrived at the conviction 

 that the specimen had come from a bird ; that it 

 was the shaft of a thigh-bone, and that it must 

 have formed part of the skeleton of a bird as 



