MOA OF NEW ZEALAND. 
231 
Large as are the various species of Struthionidm at present 
living on the globe^ they were surpassed in size by some mem- 
bers of the group, which seem to have become extinct in very 
recent times. One of these belongs to the genus Dinornis, 
and inhabited, along with smaller species of the genus, the 
islands of New Zealand, where remains of its bones, and 
even of its eggs, are not unfrequently met with"^. Mr. 
Walter Mantell found in the volcanic sand of New Zealand 
portions of the egg of the Moa, — so large, that he says his 
hat was only large enough to have served for an egg-cup to 
it. These eggs are thin compared with the ostrich, and 
much smootherf. In Madagascar there once lived another 
larger Struthionidous bird, from the remains of which it is 
concluded that specimens were from nine feet nine inches 
high to twelve feet and upwards. Captain Abadie, in 1850, 
saw in the hands of a Malgache a gigantic egg, perforated 
at one of its ends, and which the natives use for different 
domestic purposes. These eggs are six times the size of 
those of the ostrich ; they are sixteen and a half larger than 
those of the cassowary, and it is estimated that they would 
* See Professor Owen's description of Linornis in the 'Transactions of the 
Zoological Society of London.' 
t Professor Owen, Paper read at Zoological Society, January 27, 1852. 
