OWEN'S APTERYX 
been bequeathed to it by his lordship. For many years 
(nearly twenty) this unique specimen was lost sight of, 
and few naturalists at home or abroad believed in the 
existence of a bird of the kind. Its history remained 
in this state until the year 1833, when the late Mr. 
Yarrell published, in the Zoological Society s Transactions, 
a paper giving all that was at that time known respecting 
this remarkable bird. On June 8, 1867, Mr. Gould 
brought before the meeting of the Zoological Society a 
skin of a second species of this interesting genus, and 
this he described and named, as a just compliment to 
Professor Owen, under the name A]3teryx Owenii. In 
1850 the late Dr. Mantell received from his son, Mr. 
Walter Mantell, the skin of an apteryx; this he placed 
in my hands, with a request to examine and report upon 
it. I at once pronounced it to be unlike any of the speci- 
mens of Ag)tcryx australis in the British Museum or other 
collection known by the name, and at once wrote to the 
late Earl Derby, who kindly sent the original specimen 
from Knowsley to London for the purpose of having it 
compared with the specimen sent home by Mr. Walter 
Mantell. Mr. Bartlett at once identified these two birds 
as the same species, and at a meeting of the Zoological 
Society, December 10, 1850, brought the subject forward, 
and named the more common species (of which specimens 
were found in the British and other museums) Apteryx 
Mantclli, in compliment to that gentleman. 
The importance of observing and of collecting all the 
evidence in our power respecting these singular and ex- 
piring races of birds cannot be too frequently urged, for 
doubtless in a few years hence the work of extermina- 
tion will be complete. The mighty Dinornis and its 
smaller allies are probably long since numbered with the 
dead, and we are reduced to confine our observations of 
281 
