98 
ZOOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 
iliary plume nearly equals the feather itself. The remains were 
found in a sand-hill about 100 miles from Dunedin in the 
Middle Island. Underneath them were eggs, as if the bird had 
been incubating at the time it was overwhelmed by a sand 
storm ; and hence the probability is that it was of the male sex. 
Bones of live individual embryos were sent home with those of 
the parent. The specimens are in the Museum of the Yorkshire 
Philosophical Society at York, and an excellent series of photo- 
graphs of them has been published. The species to which the 
bones are referred is said to be D. robustus. The specimens are 
placed at Prof. Owen^s disposal for description (P. Z. S. 1864, 
pp. 648, 649). 
Dromceus irroratus. Some notes on this bird breeding in confinement. 
W. Bennett, Zool. pp. 9200-9206. 
Rowley, George Dawson. A Paper upon the Egg of JEpyornis 
maximuSy the Colossal Bird of Madagascar. London, 1864. 
8vo, pp. 15. 
The author somewhat minutely describes a specimen of the egg of this re- 
markable bird, which is stated to have been found at Mananzari,” on the 
east coast of Madagascar, at a deptli of 45 feet, in a hill of ferruginous clay, 
and sent to Mauritius in 1858. It was subsequently exhibited in the Inter- 
national Exhibition of 1862, and he is now the possessor of it. Its major axis 
is 12L inches, minor axis 9| inches, great circumference 34 A inches, small 
circumference 29|^ inches, and weight nearly 3 lbs. 11^ oz. avoirdupois. It 
would therefore seem to be intermediate in size to the two well-known 
specimens in the Museum at Paris. Mr. Rowley strives to show that the 
bird must have exceeded in bulk the largest species of Dinornisj and cites 
much of the information respecting JEpyornis which had been previously 
published by Isidore Geoffroy St. -Hilaire and Professor Owen. 
Aeterygid^. 
Apteryx mantelli, A second living example of this species has been presented 
to the Zoological Society, and placed along with the female bird received in 
1851, which still continues in good health. P. Z. S. 1864, pp. 374, 375. 
