326 
following : — “ The question whether Apteryx presents any real approximation to mammals in the 
structure of its breathing-apparatus is of considerable interest from its bearing upon the general 
problem of the affinities of birds to other groups of vertebrated animals. Having recently examined j 
a specimen of Apteryx (which, although it had been many years in spirit, was still in a very fair state 
of preservation) with reference to this point, I have come to the conclusion that its respiratory organs 
differ in no essential respect from those of other birds, though they exhibit those peculiarities which • 
are peculiar to and characteristic of the class Aves in a less developed condition than that which 
obtains in all those Carinatae and Eatitae which have been carefully studied The respiratory I 
organs of Apteryx are thoroughly ornithic, differing from those of other birds chiefly in the greater | 
width and smaller aggregate surface of the respiratory passages, in the rudimentary condition of the 
pneumatic sacs, and in the much greater strength of the pulmonary and septal aponeurotic expan- ' 
sions. Neither in Apteryx, nor in any other bird, has either of these the slightest real resemblance 
to a mammalian diaphragm. For, as has been seen, the heart lies altogether behind both, and the 
muscular digitations of the pulmonary aponeurosis are supplied by the intercostal nerves, the phrenic 
being absent. The vertical and oblique septa really answer to the fibrous tissue of the posterior and I 
middle mediastinum in mammals. In this, as in all other cases, the meaning of ornithic peculiarities 
of structure is to be sought, not in mammals, but in reptiles. It is only among reptiles that we meet 
with pneumatic bones similar to those of birds (Crocodilia, Pterosauria, Dinosauria), pulmonary air- 
sacs (Chamaeleonidae), and membranous expansions which are comparable to the septa in birds.” (Proc. 
Zool. Soc. 1882, pp. 560-568.) 
Comparatively few specimens of this species are now brought in by collectors in the South Island, 
whereas the supply of Apteryx oweni is undiminished ; and the conclusion is irresistible that Apteryx 
australis, perhaps the most interesting bird in the Southern Hemisphere, is fast becoming extinct. 
Mr. Eeischek informs me that on the 25th September he captured a male bird of this species 
sitting on a single fresh egg on a loose nest composed of grass and dry leaves under the shelter of a 
stone at an elevation of 2000 feet above the sea. The egg, unfortunately, got broken through the 
kicking of the bird when resisting capture. The sex was determined by dissection, and the bird was 
of unusual size, equalling the measurements which I have given for the adult female. 
A specimen of the egg in Mr. Philip Crowley’s collection at Croydon is exactly similar to that of 
Apteryx hulleri, but rather larger than ordinary examples of the latter, measuring 4-75 inches in 
length by 3‘05 in breadth. 
Chick of Apteryx bulleri. (See page 315.) 
