30 
KORTH GALLERY. 
[upper 
With the exception of the cast of the egg, and portions of leg-bone 
of an extinct wingless bird from Madagascar (the Eptyomis maximus), 
the contents of this Case are all from New Zealand, and were found 
in a deposit which there are good grounds for regarding as of very 
recent origin. Part of the series was collected by Mr. Percy Earl, 
in the Middle Island, and the remainder by Mr. Walter Mantell in 
the North Island. These Bird remains are referred by Professor 
Owen to several species, and, indeed, to distinct genera of birds, 
some of which are still living in New Zealand, whilst others are, 
most probably, extinct. Amongst the living species may be noticed 
the Notornis Mantelli, a very large species of the Rail family. The 
first indication of this bird was given by some fragments of the 
skull found with remains of other birds, in superficial deposits of 
New Zealand, by Mr. W. Mantell. The living bird was subse- 
quently discovered by Mr. Mantell in the middle island of New 
Zealand, and the specimen which he obtained is deposited in the 
Museum.* The greater portion of the bones, as determined by Pro- 
fessor Owen, belongs to a genus of birds to which the Professor has 
applied the name Dinornis : the birds of this genus were wingless, of 
large size, and some of gigantic proportions. The Dinornis giganteus 
(of which there are numerous parts of the skeleton in the collection) 
must have been from ten to eleven feet in height. In the D. ele- 
phantopus the bones of the legs are as thick as those of the D. gigan- 
teus; but they are much shorter. Two legs of an equally large kind 
(Dinornis robustus) allied to the last-mentioned bird, bones of a leg of 
a still larger species (Dinornis maximns), and an entire skeleton of 
the D. elephantopus, will be found, set up, in Room No. VI. 
To return to the Reptilian remains. The series is continued in the 
Wall Case 1, where, in a large slab of Purbeck stone, from Swanage, 
is imbedded a considerable portion of the skeleton of the " Swanage 
Crocodile," Gonioplxolis crassidens. 
Here also are deposited the Pterodactyles, or Flying Lizards from 
the Lias and Oolites of England and Bavaria. Other specimens of 
this group, from the Cretaceous Deposits, are arranged in Table-case 
No. 16, Room IV. 
In the corner Case are portions of the skull, lower jaw, &c, of a 
gigantic Reptile, allied to the Lizards ; it is from the upper chalk for- 
mation at Maestricht; also specimens from the Chalk of England 
and the Eocene Tertiary of Alabama, United States. The most in- 
structive illustration of this Reptile is the cast of a nearly entire skull, 
presented by Baron Cuvier, who published a detailed account of the 
animal in his great work on Fossil Remains, adopting for it the name 
Mo8asauru8 (Crocodile of the Meuse), proposed by Conybeare. 
: j In Case 2 will be found the remains of a gigantic land-lizard (Mega- 
Umia) from recent deposits in Australia, now believed to be extinct. 
The majority of the fossils here exemplify the large and very remarkable 
Reptile, culled Dicynodon, discovered in South Africa by Mr. A. G. Bain. 
* It will be found in the Bird Gallery. — See Case No. 133. 
