1839-40 DINORNIS ELEPHANTOPUS 151 



the Rev. William Williams, and received in 1843 

 by the Rev. Dr. Buckland, at Oxford, and by 

 Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Richardson, at Haslar 

 Hospital. These specimens, generously confided 

 to me for description, formed the subject of a 

 paper communicated to the Zoological Society, 

 November 28, 1843.' 



The incredulity and doubt with which this 

 opinion was received were too great for a time for 

 Owen's mere assertion to dispel ; but by-and-by 

 the whole skeleton was brought over to this 

 country, and then his opinion was converted into 

 a fact. ' We well remember,' remarks a writer in 

 the 'Quarterly Review' (March 1852), 3 ' seeing 

 this fragment of the shaft of a femur when it first 

 arrived, and hearing the opinion of the Professor 

 as to the bird to which it must have belonged. 

 He took, in our presence, a piece of paper and 

 drew the outline of what he conceived to be the 

 complete bone. The fragment, from which alone 

 he deduced his conclusions, was six inches in 

 length and five inches and a half in its smallest 

 circumference ; both extremities had been broken 

 off. When a perfect bone arrived and was laid 

 on the paper, it fitted exactly the outline which 

 he had drawn.' 



The following extracts from Mrs. Owen's diary 

 show the way in which Owen employed his time 

 and relieved his work with intervals of relaxation : 



3 W. J. Broderip. 



