MOAS AND MOA HUNTERS. 315 
MOAS AND MOA HUNTERS. 
—— 
A REVIEW OF MONS. A. DE QUATREFAGES’ PAPER, BY 
W. M. MASKELL.* 
eS 
Monsieur A. de Quatrefages has published in France (Annales 
des Sciences Naturelles, Nov. 1883) a paper on Moas and Moa- 
Hunters, with especial reference to the controversy excited in 
this country and elsewhere, as to the probable date of the ex- 
tinction of moas, and the people who exterminated them. The 
paper is, practically, a summing up of the facts made known up 
to the present time on the subject, containing the history of the 
discovery of moa remains, a brief description of the great birds 
themselves, a discussion of the vexed question referred to, and 
some remarks on the probable succession and frequency of the 
genera of moas. 
The chief interest of the paper (which does not appear to 
contain any new observations or information) is centred in what 
may be called its controversial portion, and as this is of general 
interest to science, and particularly to us in New Zealand, a 
brief review of it may be of use. M. de Quatrefages seems to 
sum up the whole question pretty completely. His references 
are almost all to works published by observers in this country, 
and it is most satisfactory to find that he has made much use of 
the papers in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. 
The volumes of our Transactions have taken a high place in the 
estimation of scientific men in Europe, and the work done here 
in different directions seems to be thoroughly appreciated there. 
On the great question of the extinction and date of the moas, 
the Transactions contain a complete view of the controversy, 
ranging through several volumes, This paper of M. de Quatre- 
fages, whilst containing his own opinions on the matter, sum- 
marises to a great extent the work scattered in the volumes. 
Few points of paleeontological enquiry have greater interest than 
this for us in this country, and the following review of the latest 
utterance upon it is therefore now offered. Our opportunities 
for pursuing the enquiry as to the moas are daily diminishing. 
Already their relics have become exceedingly rare, and any 
chances of obtaining knowledge from the Maoris are fast dis- 
appearing. Whatever, therefore, tends to elucidate the question, 
to confirm or to destroy opinions on either side, should be made 
known with the least possible delay. 
The theory which M. de Quatrefages sets himself to investi- 
gate is that of Dr. Von Haast (whom, by the way, he calls M. 
Haast), a theory by which the moas are supposed to have been 
destroyed, many thousands of years ago, by a race of men an- 
terior to the Maoris, and themselves also now extinct. This 
* Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 3rd September, 1884. 
