Ornithic Fossil Bones from New Zealand. 167 



scapula, and an interesting little oval bone, doubtless a 

 tracheal ring. The bones are of a yellowish cream colour, 

 light and spongy from the loss of animal matter, but all in a 

 good state of preservation. There are none of the mandibular 

 or facial bones attached to the cranium, a part of the pre- 

 sphenoid, and the whole of the left postorbital process of the 

 frontal bone is broken off, and there is likewise a slight ex- 

 foliation at the supraoccipital and paroccipital ridges, ex- 

 posing the remarkably cancellous structure of the cranium. 

 In the skull described by Professor Owen as typical of the 

 genus Dinornis, and referred to D. casuarinus, it is stated, 

 " that the cranial peculiarities of the great extinct wingless 

 birds are exaggerated in the typical genus, especially the 

 downward development and abrupt descent of the basioccipital 

 and basisphenoid, and the forward inclination of the occipital 

 surface, which makes the occipital condyle the centre of the 

 hinder surface of the skull, and places the occipital foramen 

 in the upper half. That the occipital condyle is supported on 

 a short thick peduncle, and impressed by a subcentric pit, 

 whilst the longest diameter of the foramen magnum is in the 

 vertical direction." These characters do not correspond with 

 the skull found in the limestone cave near Rotomarrama. 



The cranial peculiarities of the genus Palapteryx are said 

 to be " the minor development of the basioccipital and basi- 

 sphenoid downwards in comparison with that in Dinornis 

 proper ; a higher position of the precondyloid foramina, and 

 their separation from the carotid canals, the square platform 

 of the basisphenoid, the less development of the paroccipitals, 

 and great development of the mastoids and olfactory cham- 

 bers, and especially in the large and single oblong depression 

 beneath the mastoid, for the single superior condyle of the 

 tympanic bone." In his description of the skull of Palapteryx 

 gerenoides, in the collection of Mr Mantell, Professor Owen 

 says, " it agrees with those assigned to Palapteryx in all the 

 characters by which they differ from the cranium assumed to 

 belong to Dinornis proper." 



The general construction, measurements, and details of the 

 skull of P. geranoides, agree in several particulars with the 

 Rotomarrama cranium ; and in the remarks which I have to 



