146 
PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. V. 
to the skeleton of the ox, expecting to verify my 
first surmise ; but with some resemblance to the 
shaft of the thigh bone, there were precluding 
differences ; from the ox’s humerus, which also 
affords the tavern delicacy, the discrepancy of 
shape was still more marked. Led by the thick- 
ness of the wall of the marrow cavity, I proceeded 
to compare the bone with similar sized portions 
of the skeletons of the various quadrupeds which 
mio-ht have been introduced and have left their 
o 
remains in New Zealand ; but it was clearly un- 
conformable with any such portions. In the 
course of these comparisons I noted certain ob- 
scure superficial markings on the bones, which 
recalled to mind similar ones which I had 
observed on the surface of the long bones in 
some large birds. Thereupon I proceeded with 
it to the skeleton of the ostrich. The bone 
tallied in point of size with the shaft of the thigh- 
bone, but was markedly different in shape. 
‘ There were, however, the same superficial 
reticulate impressions on the ostrich’s femur 
which had caught my attention in the exhaustive 
comparison previously made with the mammalian 
bones. 
‘ In short, stimulated to a more minute and 
extended examination, I arrived at the conviction 
that the specimen had come from a bird ; that it 
was the shaft of a thigh-bone, and that it must 
have formed part of the skeleton of a bird as 
