176 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 
The paper treated principally of several ‘‘ finds” of gizzard 
stones, which the author had carefully collected, each set compris- 
ing the whole of the pebbles from a single gizzard. A number ot 
sets were exhibited varying in weight from 80z. to over 5lbs. The 
localities in which these were collected or noticed were:—1. A 
flat on the left bank of the Waitaki; 2. the shore of Lake Te- 
kapo; 3 Colac’s Bay, beyond Riverton; and 4. Lake Manapouri, 
whence three sets had been sent by Mr. Mitchell of Manapouri 
Station. Mr. Chapman also mentioned having found small groups 
of similar stones on the Moorhouse Range on the western side of 
the Tasman River, at heights varying from 1500 to 5000 feet above 
the sea level. The pebbles were generally hard white quartz worn 
smooth. In sets apparently trom a small species of Moa they 
varied in size from a grain of millet to a small hazel nut, and in 
the large sets they were very much larger, eight selected from the 
largest set weighing a pound. Innearly every instance they were 
found along with bones, and in one case they lay in a close group 
in the middle of a small tolerably perfect skeleton, the tracheal 
rings lying upon the mass of pebbles. 
Mr. Chapman also exhibited a fragment of Moa bone, one of 
several found in the heap of debris encircling an extensive Maori 
quarry at Gray Hills Station, in the Mackenzie Country. This 
had evidently been broken by human hands. He also exhibited a 
small Moa bone from Porirua, near Wellington, showing the marks 
of cutting instruments, presumably flint or obsidian knives. 
Mr. G. M. Thomson considered that the most interesting ques- 
tion which arose out of Mr. Chapman’s paper, and the specimens 
of gizzard stones exhibited before the meeting, was “‘ What did 
the Moa feed upon?” The Kiwi, which was the nearest living 
ally of the Moa, lived largely, if not exclusively, upon animal food; 
but it was impossible that such a large bird as the Moa could 
obtain a sufficient supply of such food, and it was more probable 
that it depended upon the large succulent plants, such as spear- 
grasses, etc., which were so abundant in the undisturbed country. 
Prof. Parker hoped that every person interested in the know- 
ledge of the natural history of this part of the world would follow 
Mr. Chapman’s example, by collecting and noting every fact of in- 
terest of the kind. The biological problems presented to us in 
New Zealand were more numerous and interesting than in any 
other portion of the earth’s surface of equal size, and in very many 
cases the evidence required for the settlement of these problems 
was fast slipping away fromour grasp. Severalinteresting animal 
types were already extinct, many others were doomed, and were 
tast approaching extinction, and, therefore, every item of informa- 
tion about them was ot interest. 
Mr. Wilkinson asked at what level above the waters of Lake 
Tekapo, the sets of gizzard stones from that locality were found. 
All these Alpine lakes were rapidly cutting down their beds to 
lower levels, and the occurrence of these remains might thus afford 
data as to the probable period at which the Moa existed. 
Mr. Chapman, in replying, stated that the Moa probably fed 
indiscriminately upon all growing vegetation, much as the Ostrich 
does at the present time. With such an apparatus for crushing 
and grinding up its food, it was most likely that leaves of all kinds 
were eaten; the extraordinary abundance in which it occurred 
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