CLASS II. AYES- ORDEE 6. CURSOEES. 
266 
Bones of Extinct Struthionid^. — The eggs and some of the bones of a gigantic bird belong- 
ing to this family, the SJpyornis onaximus, have been recently discovered in the island of Mada- 
gascar and taken to Europe. The largest of the eggs, which were found imbedded in alluvial soil, 
measured no less than twelve inches and two-thirds in length, while the egg of the Common Ostrich 
is only about half that length. The difference in the contents of tlie two eggs is much greater, 
for M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, who was the first describer of these extraordinary remains, 
calculates that the largest egg of the Epyornis received by the l*aris Museum would contain ten 
and an eighth quarts, or about as much as six eggs of the ostrich, sixteen of the cassowary, or 
one hundred and forty-eight of the common hen. One 
of the eggs had been perforated by the natives, and used 
as a vessel for carrying water. From the dimensions of 
the bones, it is supposed that this bird must have been at 
least double the size of the ostrich ; and it appears not 
improbable that it may still be in existence in the interior 
of the almost unknown island in which its remains were 
found. 
Another group of gigantic extinct birds is also placed 
in the immediate neighborhood of the Struthionidse by 
some authors, but distributed by others between these and 
the Grallatores. These are the Dinornidce, the bones 
and even the eggs of which have been found in con- 
siderable quantities imbedded in the volcanic sands of 
New Zealand. 
Several species have been distinguished, among which 
the Dinornis giganteus was pre-eminent in stature. A 
nearly complete skeleton is found in the Museum of the 
^^^^^^ Eoyal College of Surgeons, London, from which it has 
been calculated that it must have been at least fourteen 
feet in height. It appears exceedingly probable that 
these birds, if they do not still exist in the more inacces- 
sible jDarts of the islands of New Zealand, were inhabit- 
ants of that distant land when it was first peojDled with 
human beings, as the traditions of the natives describe a 
gigantic bird, to which they give the name of Jlfoa, with 
which their ancestors are said to have waged a war of 
destruction. The natives showed one traveler the place 
where the last Moa was destroyed after a tremendous battle, in which several of its assailants 
were killed. The egg of one of these birds was discovered by Mr. Walter Mantell, who describes it 
as so large that his hat would but just serve as an egg-cup for it; it would, therefore, appear to 
have been nearly as large as that of the E'pyornis, 
Vol. II.— 34 
SKELETON OF THE DINORNIS GIGANTEUS 
SUPPLIED BY A WIRE. 
-THE NECK 
