xxu 
INTRODUCTION. 
different proportions of the beak, was the nearest living representative of these extinct and compara- 
tively ancient forms *. 
But new discoveries of a most interesting kind were yet in store for the great comparative 
anatomist, by which he was afterwards able to demonstrate further links of connection between the 
extinct types and still existing forms. 
In 1852-55 it fell to the lot of Mr. Walter Mantell (at that time a Government Land-Purchase 
Commissioner) to explore the Moa-bone deposits at Waingongoro, in the North, and at Waikouaiti, 
in the South Island, and the extensive collections which he then made and transmitted to England 
not only “ excited the delight of the natural philosopher, and the astonishment of the multitude,” 
but, having been deposited in the British Museum, these new materials, in hitherto unknown abun- 
dance, enabled the Professor not only to verify some of his former conclusions, but to establish the 
characters of several new genera 'j'. No doubt the most important result was the discovery of Dinovnis 
elephantopus, “ a species which, for massive strength of the limbs, and the geneial proportion of 
breadth or bulk to height of body, must have been the most extraordinary of all the previously 
restored wingless birds of New Zealand, and unmatched, probably, by any known recent or extinct 
member of the class of Birds ” $. 
The excellent woodcut on the next page, showing this skeleton as articulated in the British 
Museum, is copied by permission from Dr. Thomson’s ‘ Story of New Zealand, p. 32. 
But, in addition to this splendid Moa, the collection contained other very interesting novelties. 
Among these were Aptovnis. the giant prototype of the existing ’Woodhen ( Ocy drowns ), and notably 
the fossil remains of Notornis mcmtelli, a huge Coot, of which three recent or living examples were 
* As to the affinities of the Apteryx, deducible from its anatomy, Prof. Owen says “ Commencing with the skeleton, all 
the leading modifications of that basis of its structure connect it closely with the Struthious group. In the diminutive and keel- 
less sternum it agrees with all the known Struthious species, and with these alone. The two posterior emarginations which we 
observe in the sternum of the Ostrich are present in a still greater degree in the Apteryx ; but the feeble development of the 
anterior extremities, to the muscles of which the sternum is mainly subservient, as a basis of attachment, is the condition of a 
peculiarly incomplete state of the ossification of that bone of the Apteryx ; and the two sub-circular perforations which intervene 
between the origins of the pectoral muscle on the one side, and those of a large inferior dermocervical muscle on the other, form 
one of several unique structures in the anatomy of this bird. ’ 
f “ The Icainga (at the stream now known as Awamoa) which we found in 1852 afforded further unmistakable proof of the 
coexistence of man with the Moa— the bones and egg-shells of Dinorms and its kindred, mixed with remains of every available 
variety of bird, beast, and fish used as food by the aborigines, being all in and around the umus (or native ovens) in which they 
had been cooked. Although my collection from this place reached England in 1853, it remained unopened until after my arrival 
there in 1856, when I caused it to be conveyed to the crypts of the British Museum, and there unpacked it in the presence of 
the great authority on our gigantic birds, Professor Owen. With the exception of two small collections which were selected for 
me by Professor Owen, and which I gave, one to the Museum of Yale College, U.S., and the other to that of the Jardin des 
Plantes, the whole of this collection is now in the British Museum. The fragments of egg-shells from these umus varied in size 
from less than a quarter of an inch of greatest diameter to three or four inches. These, after careful washing, I had sorted ; and 
having, with some patience, found the fragments which had originally been broken from each other, and fitted them together, I 
succeeded in restoring at least a dozen eggs to an extent sufficient to show their sizo and outline. Six or seven of the best of 
these I gave to the British Museum after their purchase of the collection ; one is in the Museum of the College of Surgeons ; the 
rest, including one very beautiful egg with a polished ivory-like surface, are still in iny ownership somewhere in England. Some 
idea of the labour entailed by this attempt to rehabilitate eggs may be gathered from the fact that several of those restored con- 
sisted of between 200 and 300 fragments. I may add that in the markings, size, and so forth (making allowance for the alteration 
of the former towards the ends of the eggs) I made out about twenty-four varieties, of which I have specimens. Mantell. 
+ “ By the side of the metatarsus of Dinornis elephantopus, that of D. crassus shrinks to moderate if not slender dimensions. 
But the peculiarities of the elephant-footed Dinornis stand out still more conspicuously when the bones of its lower limbs are 
contrasted with those of D. giganteus.” — Owen. 
