141 



NOTORNIS OWEN. 



DIFFERS from Porphyrio by the secondaries being nearly as long as 

 the primaries, and the wing-coverts more or less elongated, sometimes 

 nearly hiding the quills. 

 Type : Notornis mantelli. 



NOTORNIS MANTELLI OWEN. 



Notornis mantelli Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. Ill, p. 377, pi. LVI, figs. 7-1 1 (1848). 



THIS species was founded on a nearly entire skull, collected by Walter 

 Mantell at Waingongoro, North Island, New Zealand. This skull is 

 more than twice the size of that of Porphyrio melanotus. The 

 basisphenoidal surface, however, is flatter, the anterior angle projects below 

 the base of the presphenoid, and there is a slender ridge continued from each 

 paroccipital to the lateral angles of the platform, the posterior angles being 

 hemispheric tubercles as in Palapteryx. 



The occipital region inclines forwards as it rises, while the same is 

 more vertical in Porphyrio. The post-frontal is broader than in Porphyrio. 

 The chief distinction from that of Porphyrio is, however, the almost regular 

 four-sided figure of the skull. The breadth of the anterior part is almost exactly 

 that of the occipital region, and the extent of the sides is not much more than 

 that of the front and back part. The parieto-frontal region of the skull is 

 very unlike that of Porphyrio, being convex and oblong, and Notornis also lacks 

 cerebral or hemispheric convexities. Owen gives a large number of other 

 differences, but I refer my readers to the original article as above, pp. 366-371. 

 I, however, must state here, as is already mentioned by Mr. Hamilton, Trans. 

 N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 176, 1892, that the Dinornis skull, with which Professor 

 Owen compared Notornis, referred by him to D. casuarinus is really that of 

 Aptornis defossor (vide Trans. Zool. Soc. Ill, pi. 52, figs. 1-7), and, therefore, 

 it is quite natural that Professor Owen found a great likeness to Dinornis in 

 Notornis, as the skull he compared it with was really that of the Ralline 

 Aptornis, and not the Struthious Dinornis at all. 

 Habitat : North Island, New Zealand. 



Dr. H. O. Forbes, Trans. N.Z. Inst., discusses at length measurements 

 of tibiae and femora of Notornis, provisionally naming the skeleton in 

 the Otago Museum Notornis parkeri, as a new species, but I consider we must 

 wait for confirmation till we get an associated skeleton of N. mantelli. 



