166 Proceedings of tlie Royal Physical Society. 
fossil bones, which were obtained from North Island, found 
in a bed of sand called the Waingongora Bone-bed." In 
1850, another collection of about five hundred specimens of 
fossil bones were sent home by Mr Walter Mantell, two 
hundred of which were from the same locality as the former, 
whilst the remainder were obtained from Waikouaiti, on the 
eastern coast of the Middle Island. This latter bone-bed is 
covered by a layer of sand, and appears to have been an ancient 
swamp or moss, in which the New Zealand flax (PTiormium 
tenax) once flourished. A pair of perfect tarso-metatarsal 
bones were found standing erect in this bed, with all the toe- 
bones attached, which are now known to form part of the 
skeleton of the species that has received the name of " Dinor- 
nis robustus.^^ 
From the fragments of ornithic fossil bones transmitted at 
various times from New Zealand, Professor Owen has suc- 
ceeded in establishing thirteen species of extinct birds, differ- 
ing in size from the great Bustard to that of the Ostrich, and 
even much larger. These species have been referred to two 
distinct genera, the Dinornis proper, in which there is no im- 
pression for a hind toe on the tarso-metatarsal bones ; and to 
the genus Palapteryx, in which the impression for the fourth 
toe has a similar position in the tarso-metatarsal bones as in 
the existing Apteryx. The general anatomical characters as- 
signed by Professor Owen to the skull in this peculiar family 
of birds are "abroad and low supraoccipital region, sloping 
from below upwards ; a flat parietal surface <3ontinued directly 
forwards into a broad downward sloping frontal region ; wide 
and deep temporal fossse, small orbital cavities, and large 
olfactory chambers ; the vertical plane of the foramen mag- 
num, with the single occipital condyle projecting directly 
backwards. No ' existing bird,' he says, ' presents this 
peculiarity, which somewhat resembles that of Chelonian rep- 
tiles.' " 
The large bones, which I shall now briefly describe, are 
nine in number, consisting of the greater portion of a cranium, 
one cervical, one dorsal, and nine anchylosed sacral vertebrae, 
a part of a rib, an ungual and a corresponding penultimate 
phalanx, a large elongated bone, which I assume to be a 
