INTRODUCTION. 
xxiii 
s obtained, and which, there is every reason to hope, still exists in the high tablelands and 
remote fastnesses of the South Island *. 
. _ abunda nt remains of Aptornis enabled the Professor to discriminate two species, namely 
1 nis otidiformis (originally, from the examination of 
a single bone, referred to Dinomis) and the still larger 
1 o n is defossor, of such size and strength that, to quote 
Wn W0lds ’ the civil engineer might study perhaps 
advantage the disposition of the several buttresses, 
ams , and ai ched plates which support the iliac roof of 
pelvis, and strengthen the acetabular walls, receiv- 
the piessure of the thigh-bones in this huge and 
powerful Woodhen.” 
I may here mention that an Aptornis skull, dug 
1 by Mi. W. W. Smith at Albury, near Oamaru, 
slightly larger measurements than any hitherto 
lecoided of A. otidiformis , and that Sir Richard Owen, 
“ Ti ^ ^ blesented dle specimen, wrote to me saying: — 
ie acmi part exceeds in size that of figs. 2 and 3 
^ U " v °ls.), but so little as not to support 
istmct species, unless the rest of the skeleton 
corroborative characters f. The specimen you 
kindly piesented and which, for your sake, I shall 
' a Ue Whlle the brief remainder of life lasts, is evidently, 
ts specific gravity, from a bird that has long passed 
aWay ; 1 should ’ however, rejoice if confirmatory cha- 
i ac eis justified me in introducing to our Zoological 
Society an Aptornis bulled.'’ 
Jj. robustus Of tb ^ < ^ SC ° YCiy ’ * n succcssb)n ’ Dinomis geranoides, 1). gravis , I), rheides, and 
York, in a remark bl ^ named s P ecies tbero is now an almost perfect skeleton in the museum at 
feathers still attach' I ° ^ pieservation ’ witb portions of the integuments and quill-part of the 
articular cartilages \vr- ^ * acmm ’ and tbe le §' s stdl preserving some of the ligaments and inter- 
the ‘ Proc Linn^ S ' V£duab ^ e series, which will be found fully described by Mr. Allis in 
been an ob'ect „° Cle ^ ^ vob v ‘ d ‘ P - were lound the rudimentary wing-bones which had so long 
immediately"' bene' d | 1 ^ ent searc h- The skeleton is probably that of a male bird, because lying 
bones of f ou ^ bui ^ ed * n ^he heap of sand with which the remains were covered, were the 
fair one fro ^ ^ ° neS ’ P lesuma bly the whole of a clutch. This deduction as to the sex seems a 
Struthious J 1 ^ 1087 ’ masmuch as the male Apteryx , and indeed that sex in the majority of 
birds, alone performs the duty of incubation. 
(in his ‘ Abbilduno-en v- i cn m I >alaS011 °t the bones, concludes that the South-Island bird is a distinct species, for which 
. t In relation “ measly T ° ^ Pr ° P ° Sed tbe name « ™ isttteri. 
trivial differences; y e t taken ’ Pl0 ^' Owen sajs : “These may perhaps be deemed by some ornithologists to be slight or 
unquestionably sunnorl rs " connection with the greater breadth and thickness of the bone, in proportion to its length, thev 
liort the conclusions of specific distinction dcducible from those proportions.” 
