Ornitllic 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 
gere7ioides, 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. geranoideSi agree in several particulars with the 
Rotomarrama cranium ; and in the remarks which I have to 
