316 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
theory has been promulgated by its author in various papers in 
the Transactions, and supported in his work on the Geology of 
Canterbury and Westland. M. de Quatrefages summarises the 
conclusions of Dr. Von Haast in eleven propositions, of which 
the principal are the following :— 
1. The different species of moas flourished in the post-pliocene 
period in New Zealand. 
2. They were destroyed at a period so remote that no reliable 
tradition of them remains. 
3. They were destroyed by a race of Autochthones, probably 
of Polynesian origin, who hunted and killed also a species of wild 
dogs, but had no tame dogs, and who were not cannibals. 
4. These men made no use of polished stone instruments, 
nor had they any greenstone. 
5. The fact that polished instruments are of very great ; an- 
tiquity in New Zealand, and are yet not found possessed by the 
moa-hunters, is a proof of the enormous distance of the period 
of extinction of moas. 
It ought to be noted here that some of the propositions above- 
mentioned have received modifications in Dr. von Haast’s later 
works. M.de Quatrefages quotes them from a paper in Vol. 
IV. of the Transactions—that is, from a publication of 1871-1872. 
But, in his wor«x on the Geology of Canterbury and Westland, 
published in 1879, Dr. von Haast reproduces these propositions 
with some changes. For example, the phrase so much objected 
to in the paper now under review, “A race of Autochthones of 
Polynesian origin,’ becomes “An Autochthone race, having 
affinities with the Melanesian type ;” and the statement that the 
moa-hunters had no polished stone instruments is abandoned 
(Geol. of Cant. and West., p. 430). 
The existence of a race of men in New Zealand anterior to 
the Maoris is entirely granted by M. de Quatrefages, as it is 
indeed, by many other writers. But, far from being “ Autoch- 
thonic,” this race is declared to be of Melanesian origin, as is 
proved by craniological observations and other evidence. It would 
be satisfactory, probably, if some clearer notion were obtainable 
as to the meaning of the word “ autochthone” in the minds of 
those who use it. The word has a somewhat mysterious and 
captivating appearance, and, doubtles:, many who employ it, and 
many more who read or hear of it, are satisfied with its resonant 
syllables, without enquiring deeply as to its derivation and in- 
terpretation. Probably, to most men, it may convey the impres- 
sion of “ the first arrivals” in a country—a harmless and simple 
idea. Whether those who may use it in its proper sense, “a race 
sprung from the land itself,” are fully aware of the complications 
involved by such a meaning, is more doubtful. In any case, such 
a controversy as that of Moas and Moa-Hunters ought scarcely 
to be exhausted without complete enquiry as to the full inter- 
pretation of this word “ autochthone,” if it is employed therein. 
M. de Quatrefages seems to have combatted the “ autochthonic ” 
theory, as regards not only New Zealand, but other countries, 
