2 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



returned by many of the constituencies can hardly be expected to do 

 anything to foster an institution regarding whose aims and benefits 

 they can only have the haziest ideas, beyond that it is mainly sup- 

 ported by men who are not of their class. Unfortunately there is 

 but little cohesion among the different branches of the Institute, 

 beyond what is secured by their belonging to a central governing- 

 body in Wellington. Now a periodical like the Journal of Science 

 should furnish just such a means of communication between the 

 societies affiliated to the Institute as would serve to bind them 

 together and bring them more into touch with one another. It is 

 hoped, therefore, that these Societies will do what lies in their power 

 to foster the Journal. 



During the former period of its existence the publication was 

 conducted at the sole risk of one individual. On the present occasion 

 the attempt has been made to interest a larger number of persons in 

 the venture, and it is gratifying to record that the following gentlemen 

 have undertaken to act as sponsors for the new issue : — 



A. S. Atkinson, Nelson ; F. R. Chapman, Dunedin ; Chas. 

 Chilton, Port Chalmers ; J. D. Enys, Castle Hill, Canterbury ; 

 Dr. T. M. Hocken, Dunedin; Professor Hutton, Christchurch ; R. M. 

 Laing, Christchurch ; Jas. McKerrow, Wellington ; S. Percy Smith, 

 Wellington; and G. M. Thomson, Dunedin. 



It now rests with those who take an interest in matters scientific, 

 to see that they do their part to back the efforts of these gentlemen, 

 and make the New Zealand Journal of Science a success. 



ON THE HISTORY OF THE KIWI.* 



BY PROF. T. JBFFERY PARKER, F.R.S. 



The precise history of any existing animal or plant is extremely 

 difficult to get at and can only be known with certainty by the 

 discovery of a complete series of fossils linking it to the extinct 

 ancestral form from which it sprang. Naturally such complete 

 histories are among the rarest of biological triumphs, and even 

 partial histories such as we have of many of the Mammalia are only 

 obtainable in very favourable cases. As a rule we have to depend 

 upon the evidence afforded by anatomy and embryology. 



Anatomy is an exact and most valuable guide to affinity, 

 especially between closely allied forms, but no truth has been more 

 abundantly proved by recent research than that results obtained by 



*This article is a semi-popular abstract of my paper "Observations on the Anatomy 

 and Development of Apteryx," shortly to be published in the Philosophical 

 Transactions. 



