2o8 
PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. VII. 
of my scientific predictions relative to the existence 
or former existence — though within the memory of 
man — of a huge bird in New Zealand. I had a 
fragment of one of its bones three years ago and 
ventured to build it up into “ a heavier bird than 
the ostrich but as big ; ” it turns out, however, to 
have been much bigger, and has excited, I think, 
more interest than anything that has occurred in 
my line. Dr. Buckland, to whom the bones of 
said bird were sent, and who has made them over 
to me, partly attributes his recovery to them. 
He sent me a note this morning which he had 
received from the Queen’s Master of the House- 
hold (Hon. Charles A. Murray), who says, after a 
compliment to me; “The Prince has read your 
letter with the greatest interest ; he desires me to 
thank you in his name, and if any further dis- 
coveries should be made in elucidation of the 
mystery of this feathered monster, pray let me 
again have the pleasure of hearing from you and 
of communicating the information to His Royal 
Highness.” ’ 
In this month Darwin wrote on the subject of 
his work on ‘ Coral Reefs ’ to Owen. In this letter 
he refers to some preliminary papers of Owen’s 
on the ‘Archetype,’ afterwards developed into 
his classic on the ‘ Archetype and Homologies 
of the Vertebrate Skeleton,’ which appeared in 
1848 
