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PALAEOCASUARIUS FORBES. 



DR. FORBES founded this genus of Dinornithidae on remains of Moas of 

 three distinct sizes as regards femora collected by him at Manitoto. 

 Dr. Forbes has kindly placed these bones at my disposal, and the 

 following summarises the results of my examination. I find that Dr. Forbes' 

 original idea as to the distinctness of Palaeocasuarius is perfectly justified, 

 as not only are his characters of the tibio-tarsus, as opposed to those in the 

 other genera, correct, but the proportions between femur, tibio-tarsus and tarso- 

 metatarsus are quite different to those of other genera. I give the proportions 

 of the three bones in Palaeocasuarius elegans, Megalapteryx tenuipes, and 

 Pachyornis elephantopus, which are the three most nearly allied genera: 





Pal. elegans. 



M. tenuipes. 



Pach. elephantopus. 



Femur, length 



lOf inches 



1 1 inches 



12 inches 



Width over condyles 





3* 



5 „ 



Tibio-tarsus, length 



16 



15* „ 



33 „ 



Width at distal end 



2 



2| „ 



Si „ 



Tarso-metatarsus, length 



7 



6 „ 



9 „ 



Width at centre .... 



H „ 



H H 



2i „ 



The original diagnosis was as follows, being founded on the tibio-tarsus: "The 

 tibio-tarsus differs from that of all other genera in being straighter and less 

 twisted on itself, so that the position of the ridge forming the inner wall of 

 the groove for the tendons of the extensor muscles run along the inner side 

 of the bone as in Casuarius. As in the latter genus it takes a marked turn 

 inwards and backwards before joining the epicnemial crest, while a line 

 joining the centre point between the distal condyles and the epicnemial ridge 

 leaves a considerable space between it and the wall of the groove. There is 

 no intercondylar eminence in the intercondylar channel, and the orifice of 

 the extensor foramen opens more longitudinally than in the other genera, 

 and points downwards." 



Type of the genus : Palaeocasuarius haasti Forbes. 



Number of species : 3. 



In the following descriptions of the three species I only rely on the 

 measurements of the femora, as not all the other leg bones of the three 

 species are available. 



